


Reunion

by SelVecantie (LilianHalcombe)



Category: Babylon 5
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-26
Updated: 2014-08-26
Packaged: 2018-02-14 20:43:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 33
Words: 241,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2202435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilianHalcombe/pseuds/SelVecantie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Following her departure from Babylon 5, Susan Ivanova thought she was escaping her past, but instead finds herself confronted by someone she thought long dead and facing a conspiracy that threatens to topple the Earth Alliance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story was originally written in 2000, but was only available on my personal site which is no longer online. So posting it here to share once again.

* * *

  
January 30, 2262, Hyperspace.

_"And finally, we can report that the latest addition to the Earth Alliance fleet, the soon to be commissioned EAS Rasputin, has finally been completed and now awaits her first captain at the construction yards orbiting Neptune. As we reported recently, Captain Susan Ivanova, previously stationed on Babylon 5, has been given command of this, the first production model of the new Warlock class destroyers. As part of our continuing coverage of this momentous event we will be bringing you a special report on the commissioning ceremony in tomorr..."_

"Off."

Earth Alliance Captain Susan Ivanova slumped dejectedly back into her seat as the viewscreen flickered and the Earthforce insignia replaced the ISN reporter's face. She had wanted to take command of her new vessel as quietly as possible, and then fly off into space and away from the reporters and questions she faced back on Earth, and even on Babylon 5. That did not look like it was going to be possible though, ISN was still regarding her as some sort of hero and insisted on covering her every move. Another officer might have welcomed their attention, but all Susan wanted was to be left alone to forget about what had happened, to forget Marcus and the sacrifice he had made for her.

When Susan had been offered the captaincy of the first of the new Warlock destroyers by Earthforce she had jumped at the chance to return to Earth. The civil war was over, and had she remained she knew the memories of what had happened would have eventually driven her into depression. Earthforce seemed eager to take her back, and with the amnesty for all those who served on Babylon 5, or in the fleet that had ended Clark's rule, they had even been willing to forget the roles she had played during the bloody civil war. It was not only Earthforce that was willing to forgive either, everyone on Earth seemed busy trying to forget Clark, to erase his memory and deeds from their minds.

Susan had found, however, that she could not forget, or forgive so easily as everyone else. The civil war had come close to claiming her life, and had it not been for the sacrifice of Marcus she would have been dead, nothing but a memory to those who knew her. So she had run, away from Babylon 5 and those who cared about her, and most importantly away from the memories that still haunted her dreams. She had returned to Earth, but even on her homeworld, she did not found the peace she sought. To those who had suffered under Clark's rule she was something of a hero, one of the most prominent of those who had fought against the tyrant to save them. ISN in particular had taken an interest in her, and seemed intent on following her around wherever she went, ensuring that her face was plastered all over their news bulletins, despite her wishes.

She had suffered through weeks of this, hating every minuted, but now finally she was to take command of her new vessel and with it hopefully earn some peace and quiet to recover from the memories that still plagued her from the previous two years. Susan did not believe for a minute that things would change much once she was on the Rasputin, but at least she would be working again, and could bury herself in her work, as she had done so many times before. A holiday had not helped, even when she returned to her hometown of St. Petersburg.

Her family home was gone now, repossessed by Clark's agents, probably in retribution for her siding with Sheridan. She had not really cared much about the old house; it had not really been a home for Susan since her mother died, but she still felt pangs of loss. Mustering up her courage, she finally had gone to see the graves of her family, but found nothing to guide her there. Instead, she was reminded of other more recent deaths, of Marcus, of Talia, and of all the others who had served under her on Babylon 5 and who were no longer alive today. She had spent only two days there, most of the time lying on the hotel bed crying.

Then had come the trip to Earthdome, the meetings with President Susanna Luchenko, and other top officials. They had only kept her busy for a little over a week though, before packing her off to Station Prime to await a flight for the Neptune-Beta research centre, where she was to join her new command. She waited for weeks on Station Prime as the commissioning of the Rasputin was delayed repeatedly for various reasons. There in the little room she had been given she had found plenty of time to think out her past, and the memories that plagued her.

She remembered Talia, the woman she had thought would be her one true love, and the way she had been snatched from her arms. They had only spent one night together, one night of passion that remained etched in Susan's mind. She had given herself to Talia totally, feeling their minds echo their love for each other. She had held back nothing, giving all that she was to a woman who was taken from her the next day in the cruellest way possible. She had gone to see Talia before she left, but could find nothing of her Talia left, not even a trace. The woman who she loved — and had loved her — was now a cold, empty shell, filled with a being that embodied all the cold duplicity that was the Psi Corps.

During her time on Station Prime Susan realised that she had never really recovered from Talia's loss, and it had shaped her every waking moment from that day on. She had given up on love and thrown herself into her work, trying to forget Talia, forget what they could have had together. At night though, when she closed her eyes she could not forget, and the image of Talia, walking away from her, out of her quarters and her life was forever etched in her mind. Every night she dreamed of her, imagining ways for them to be together again, but every night Talia left just the same. She had dreamt about Talia every night for a year, and then, just when she thought she might be getting over her, along had come the Shadow war, and Marcus.

If she had never met Talia, never experiencing her total love and total abandonment, things might have been very different with Marcus. However, she had, and because of this, Susan had never seen the love Marcus offered her until it was too late. She had concentrated on her work, always serious and committed, never for a moment allowing him a thought. She had seen that he might be interested in her, but so were many others on Babylon 5. Like the others who had shown her any interest, she had turned Marcus down, her mind still on the past. Then, when she had finally let herself realise that he had truly loved her, it was too late and he lay dying by her side, his life drained to save her.

She had not wanted to be saved though, hating him for bringing her back and condemning her to walk alone forever. She would have welcomed death, as a final freedom from her isolation, a peaceful end to all the tragedy that had plagued her. Marcus had taken her from her peaceful final sleep, sacrificing himself and leaving her alone, and with even more baggage to carry than before. She hated him. She hated the way he had never told her of his love, hated herself for not at least giving him a chance. She knew it would not have made a difference though; she was incapable of love now. She had given her heart to Talia during that one night in her quarters on Babylon 5 and when Talia had left, she had never given it back.

In her tiny room on Station Prime, she could not even bring herself to end her own life, to take away the pain forever. She could not give up what Marcus had given her without feeling guilty. It was as if she was trapped by her own guilt, doomed to live alone... forever. She had left Babylon 5 to escape the past, but had only found herself trapped by it, trapped by her memories and her lost love, and trapped by her duty to Marcus. She did not want this, she did not want the memories, did not want the responsibility, but it had been given back to her anyway.

For three weeks she had been stuck on Station Prime, never leaving her quarters in case someone recognised her. She feared being forced to sit through their fawning gestures of gratitude and requests for autographs. It had been three of the hardest weeks she had ever had to live through. Over the past two years on Babylon 5, she had always been too busy, and never had enough time to sit and think, and now that she did, she did not like what she was thinking.

Finally the call from Earth Central had come and she had left the Station, boarded the shuttle with the two crates that contained all her belongings, and set out for the short trip through hyperspace to the Neptune jumpgate. The blinking light on the screen, and the synthesised words of the computer informing her of the incoming message, had been one of the most relieving moments of her life; finally something to grab hold of, direct action to mask the melancholy hole in her soul. She had thrown herself into the packing, although she had never really unpacked her belongings after their trip from Babylon 5. After dressing once again in the blue of Earthforce, this time with the single gold bar indicating her new rank, she marched out of the room and across the station, the perfect picture of an Earthforce officer.

She had boarded the shuttle with only a small bag, containing a few important items and had found herself the only passenger. On a shuttle that could hold more than fifty, she was alone. They had waited while porters from the station had delivered her packing crates and then the shuttle had left on the long flight to the Neptune jumpgate. She had strapped herself into her seat so she did not start floating across the room when the shuttle stopped accelerating and returned to zero-g. Then settling in for the flight she had turn on the monitor to ISN to catch up on what had been happening.

There had been the usual stories about Babylon 5 and the new Alliance as well as coverage of the upcoming election; one that Susanna Luchenko seemed likely to win. The story on Babylon 5 had bought a faint smile to her lips as she though of John, even more wrapped up in affairs of politics. She remembered when he had first come aboard how he had hated the paper work, and sitting behind his desk, how he had threatened to quit over it, until she had convinced him otherwise. Still he was happy now at least, a loving wife, and his friends around him. Susan wished she could have stayed, remained with Babylon 5 and the people she had grown to care for, but every time she had to go to Medlab she would have remembered what had happened there, and knew that she would not have been able to live with that.

Then the final story, the one about her had come on and in annoyance she had closed down the vid to avoid having to listen to yet another story about her. Instead, she stretched in her restraints and looked around the shuttle, looking for something to take her mind away from her troubles. There was nothing there however, just a few scattered bits of paper floating about the cabin and her packing crates strapped down securely toward the back of the shuttle. There was not even a porthole to look out and watch the swirling chaos of Hyperspace.

She had always liked that about the Whitestar's. Even when she had been unable to sleep there was always the porthole to look of, out into Hyperspace. For some reason Hyperspace always had a calming effect on her and there she had always slept peacefully and without the horrible dreams that plagued her on Babylon 5. Susan remember the times she had spent there, the time she had spent with Marcus, and how she had been so blind to the way he looked at her, his loving eyes always following her around. She cursed herself again for not being able to see what was obvious. Still it was too late to worry about that now, Marcus was dead and she was doomed to live without him, and without love.

With a deep sigh, Susan closed her eyes, determined at least to try catch up with some of the sleep she had lost over the past few weeks. To her surprise she drifted off almost as soon as her eyes closed, into a sleep that was for once was mercifully empty of the nightmares that had been her constant companions in recent months.

* * *

"Captain, we are about to return to real space."

The voice of the shuttle's pilot cut into her sleep and wearily Susan dragged her eyes open and pulled herself upright. For a moment she was confused about where she was, but an itch at the back of her neck soon reminded her though and as she scratched it she cursed all Earthforce tailors, and the poor quality of their uniforms. Although good by Earth standards, she was used to the softness of the form fitting Minbari uniforms. She had even worn them when off duty, instead of more casual clothing she had favoured when Earthforce uniforms were still common on Babylon 5. But now she was back with Earthforce once again, and the old uniforms had been pulled from the back of her cupboard, and sat uncomfortably on her body, itchy, cumbersome, and in her honest opinion, ugly.

Still she was a captain in Earthforce so had to at least look the part, and at least when she was annoyed with the itchy uniform she didn't had to think about other darker things. Susan smiled as she smoothed out the slightly wrinkled uniform, thinking that perhaps there was still some hope for her. She might have suffered greatly and lost all she cared about but she was about to get what she had always wanted, ever since the day she first signed up, a ship of her own. She could only hope it had been all worth it.

The screen in front of her was blinking, a message informing her that the shuttle was about to fire its braking thrusters and exit to real space through the jumpgate. She quickly checked her restraints, but found them secure and then gripped her armrests as the shuttle's frame shook as its thrusters fired. There was none of the smoothness she had known on the White Star's, but it was still nowhere near as bad as she remembered from previous journeys.

The shuttle travelling between Earth and Neptune was ancient compared to the new Phoenix class shuttles on Babylon 5, with their inertial dampening and smooth hyperspace to real-space entry. They were designed for space though and this one, a five-year-old Moa class shuttle, was made to land both on a planet's surface as well as dock with stations and starships.

A shudder ran through the vessel and Susan knew that they were back in real space again, having just past through the Neptune jumpgate, one of four that could be found in Earth's solar system. This one was the original; part of the ancient jumpgate network that had been created by an unknown race long before the younger races ever went to the stars. It had been patched up and repaired many times since the people of Earth had first become aware of it existence, and until the construction of the jumpgate near Io, it had made Neptune an important part of the Earth Alliance. The Neptune gate was also the one the Centauri had used when they had first contacted humanity, claiming to long lost cousins. They had then built the Earth jumpgate to speed up travel between Earth and the Centari worlds, and before long humans also learned how to construct their own gates and began to spread out spread across the galaxy.

Still in the hearts of many, the Neptune Jumpgate still held an important place. There was even a small museum dedicated to the first Centauri-Human meeting on Triton, largest of Neptune's moons. It was once a place where all who could came to visit, to see the place where the first meeting of humanity and another race had taken place, where the research vessel Kraken had found the ancient gate just in time to see if flare into light and the massive form of a Centauri battle cruiser come leaping through. Fortunately, the Centauri had proven to be friendly and their arrival had opened the way for humanity to reach for the stars.

The museum was not why most people had come to Neptune though. As humans colonised other worlds the thirst for fuel and resources became ever greater. Mars was colonised and the process of stripping it bare of all its minerals began, and Neptune with its ancient jumpgate became the largest fuel-producing centre in the Earth Alliance. All starships needed fuel, and for the Earthforce vessels that meant hydrogen to power fusion reactors and thrusters, and Neptune, like all the gas giants, had hydrogen in abundance. Many years later, after the construction of the jumpgate near Io the importance of Neptune slipped as the Jupiter Mining Corporation stole the markets from Neptune's independent companies with its cheaper prices and shorter travel times. For those companies who sought to make a living outside the control of the megacorporation that the JMC had grown into, Neptune remained a popular destination, but no longer was it was the sole source of fuel for Earth's ever growing fleet of starships.

To the pilot of Susan's shuttle though, it still seemed very busy region of space indeed. Five large tanker ships filled his vision as the shuttle left the jumpgate and began the short trip toward the planet beyond. Carefully he threaded his way past the giant cylindrical shapes of the tankers and the smaller tender vessels bringing the hydrogen from the gas mines around Neptune. Easing back on the shuttles deceleration, he pointed it away from the main colony and headed out across Neptune's northern pole towards the research station. Behind him, the jumpgate flared again as a large commercial liner enter normal space, probably carrying a load of tourists bound for the museum, or maybe new workers for the mines.

Below, reaching deep into the gas giant's atmosphere, gas mines themselves could be seen, their lights resembling a sprinkling a tiny stars against the dark-blue surface of the planet itself. Thousands of metres high, the mineshafts stretched from the storage silos and refineries in the upper atmosphere to the collection sites deep beneath the surface. To the shuttle pilot they looked like gigantic needles, plunging into the surface of the vast blue sphere that was Neptune. At this distance, both they and the planet still looked small, but as the shuttle powered towards Neptune's dark side they loomed larger and larger in the pilot's view.

Eventually, after another ten minutes of travel, even they passed by and the shuttle was travelling over unclaimed atmosphere, heading for its destination, the research station Neptune-Beta. After the war with the Minbari, stations like Neptune-Beta had sprung up across the Earth Alliance, all devoted to expanding the EA's grasp of spacefaring technology so that never again Earth would be threatened with annihilation as it had against the Minbari. Neptune-Beta was one of the least secretive of these stations, but one that would eventually been used to produce the most powerful vessels that the Earth Alliance had constructed to date.

During the civil war, President Clark had been aided by dark allies, who had never truly been exposed to those back home. Using the technology of these aliens, researchers on Neptune-Beta had modified the standard Omega class vessels and turn them into the horrific vessels that Ivanova had encounter in a battle last year, a battle that had left her battered and dying. The vessels she had encountered though where nothing more than a modified version of an already existing vessel, but the had been the forerunners of a whole new class of vessel, the Warlock destroyers, widely rumoured to be the first Earth Alliance vessel that was capable of going up against a Minbari warship and surviving.

In a low orbit over the dark side of the gas giant, the Neptune-Beta complex looked like a dark spider's web of metal and silicon, spreading out across the atmosphere of the gigantic planet. Lights from the habitation cylinders and the construction yards gave the whole structure and eerie glow, something totally alien from the smooth dark globe that was Neptune in the background.

As the shuttle grew nearer, it was possible to see the outlines of three massive vessels filling the space of the construction yards. One, a strange dark-hulled vessel, which seemed to draw in light rather than reflect it, was moored near the far end of the station. Had the pilot been even closer he would have been able to see the name, EAS Warlock, emblazoned along its side, but one look at that vessel made the pilot wish that he would never be caught near it. Although he could not put a name to it, he had a feeling that something was very wrong with the vessel, something frightening and almost evil. Spotting the landing lights from the docking ring, he almost breathed a sigh of relief as he turned his shuttle away from the black-hulled vessel.

The other two vessels looked completely different, one was just a basic construction framework swarming with the lights of the workers and machines busy putting it together. However, when the pilot lifted his eyes to the third vessel he saw what it was they were working on building, a vessel of a type he had never seen before. It was long, easily as long as the Omega destroyers, but at the same time its hull was a lot larger, at least twice the width and height of the Omega's. The rotating mid-section that had contained the crew quarters and bridge on the Omega's was gone, and the whole hull looked smooth and clean. It was probably the most impressive vessel the shuttle pilot had seen in his five years of flying passengers around the solar system. He wished he had more time to examine it further but he was nearly at the docking ring and he did not think that he would be allowed to stay over the station's airspace on the way back to Earth, especially considering classified nature of much that was being worked on here. Even at this distance, he could see the spiky shapes of orbital defence platforms, ready to shoot down any unauthorised vessel that approached.

With a sigh of disappointment, he manoeuvred the large shuttle past the destroyer and with the controlled ease that came from experience, he fired the thrusters and carefully slipped the shuttle into the rotating docking bay he had been assigned. A loud clunk sounded behind him and with a jarring thud the shuttle came to a rest against the metal floor of the dock. Looking out the front window, he could see the clouds of rushing air filling the chamber as the atmosphere was restored. Behind a window across the other side of the dock, he could see a small collection of Earthforce officials waiting, probably for his passenger. Then remembering his duty, he spoke into the microphone to alert his charge that she had arrived and could get ready to disembark.

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

* * *

"Attention this shuttle has now arrived at research station Neptune-Beta. We are waiting for the atmosphere and pressure to be restored and then you will be free to disembark. I trust you had a good flight."

Susan yawned, ignoring the pilot's voice. She had travelled on enough shuttles in her time with Earthforce to be familiar with the routine by now. Undoing the tight restraints that had held her fast in her seat throughout the long trip, she rose and stretched to get any kinks out of her body. Then she smoothed down her uniform, and ran a brush quickly through her hair trying to make herself somewhat presentable for the party she knew would be awaiting her. She felt surprisingly good, the short rest on the trip restoring her somewhat, although she doubted that it had driven away all the effect of the sleep deprivation she had suffered recently.

Standing near the shuttle door, Susan realised that this was a decisive moment in her life. As soon as she walked out the door, she would be beginning a new chapter in her life. Behind her was Babylon 5, the war, Marcus, and ahead was a fresh start with a new ship with a new crew. It wouldn't be the same as serving on Babylon 5, a warship was very different from a large space station, even if it was one of the largest ever built and carried a crew of well over a thousand. Besides, this was only meant to be a shakedown cruise, a quick jaunt around the colonies to iron out any problems with the new vessels before Earthforce began full production, she probably wouldn't even see any action.

The green light over the shuttle hatch came on and Susan reached down and twisted the lever on the inside of the hatch, forcing it open. It slid away to the side with a hiss and she quickly walked down the stairs and onto the metal floor of the docking bay. Across from her a small group of men and woman, some in Earthforce uniforms, some in the white coats of the research division, were walking steadily towards her. Slinging her small travel bag over her shoulder, she marched off to meet them, her face an impassive mask of determination.

Whatever she might be feeling inside Susan had learned many years ago never to show anyone what she was really feeling. She tried to always appears strong and determined to others, and always finish the job, no matter what she really felt inside. It was part of what made her such a good officer; she had the ability to tune out other distractions and concentrate just on her job, forgetting about everything else. This was what she did now not wanting to give anyone the impression she was weak and not suited for the captaincy of Earthforce's new flagship.

The group from the station met her half way across the docking bay, lead by a short, overweight, dark-skinned man in the uniform of an Earthforce Admiral. She gave a short and sharp salute as she pulled up next to him and then shook the hand he offered her.

"Captain Ivanova," the Admiral said with a broad smile. "Welcome to Neptune-Beta. I am Admiral Kiernan, in command of this station and much of the work that goes on here, or at least that's what I tell myself. If you have time, perhaps you would care to meet the rest of my staff before I get someone to show you to your quarters. Some of them will be serving with you on the Rasputin."

Susan nodded her ascent, as the Admiral knew she would and he quickly introduced the rest of his staff one by one.

"This is Dr. Nathan Kozlowski, head of research," he said, indicating a short, thin man who looked about sixty and had a large number of papers and charts clutched under his arm, one of which he was reading intently. So intense was his study of the document he did not even seem to be aware of either officer's presence.

"No doubt he will want to talk with you later about your new command." At this, the doctor looked up from the document he had been reading and started to speak, but the Admiral had already whisked Susan away and down the line of Earthforce officials, introducing them one after the other. Dr Kozlowski closed his mouth again and looked glum for a moment before noticing something interesting on the paper he was holding and went back to his reading.

"And finally, we have Lt. Commander Philip Moore who will be serving as your chief engineer on the Rasputin. He was involved with this project since we began construction of the prototype Warlock and will be joining you for this shake-down cruise."

Susan shook the hands of the tall, well-muscled, dark-skinned engineer, most likely a Polynesian by birth, and took the time to appraise him carefully, as he was the first of her command crew she had met. Phillip Moore was not what she had expected of an engineer. Built more like an athlete than a man who spent all his time working on a starship engines, his tall well-muscled frame towered above the other officers and engineers gathered to meet her. The engineer smiled under her appraising gaze. "I look forward to working with you, Captain," he said. "The Rasputin is one hell of a ship, I'm sure you'll like her as much as I do."

"I hope I do," Susan replied, before moving to join Admiral Kiernan who was waiting by the pressure doors leading into the station proper.

She could feel the eyes of several of those she had just meet boring into her back as she walked away, and quickened her place slightly. Reaching the Admiral's side she asked him, "Where are the rest of my command staff, haven't they arrived yet?"

"Yes they have arrived," the Admiral replied, placing his hand on the control that operated the pressure doors, and then standing back as the massive doors slid open with a low hissing sound. "Most are already aboard the Rasputin. There has been a minor problem with one of the systems that they are busy working to fix that before the commissioning ceremony tomorrow."

"What sort of problem," Susan asked. "Nothing serious I hope."

Kiernan shook his head. "I don't think so, but Doctor Kozlowski would know more about that than me, he is in charge of the technical side of the things. I just sign the authorisation papers and greet all the dignitaries. Speaking of which, I have to go and meet with the ISN crew our new president has allowed on board, they seem very interested in this new vessel, or perhaps just in its captain?" He turned and eyed her carefully with a questioning expression on his face. When she did not respond, he shrugged and said, "I will meet you later in the officers mess for dinner. Philip and Nathan can give you a short tour of our facilities if you like, and show you to your quarters."

"Then I will see you tonight Admiral," Susan said with another salute. The Admiral returned her salute and spinning round on his well-polished boots, marched off up the corridor leading towards the command section of station. Most of his staff left with him and Susan was soon left in the company of just Nathan Kozlowski and Philip Moore. Looking at the doctor, who was still busy reading his reports she asked, "So Doctor, what is the delay with my vessel. I had thought most of my new crew would be here to meet me."

The doctor's eyes slowly crept up from the paper he was reading and were captured by her cool, steady gaze as she looked toward him and waited for an answer. He shuffled his papers, and looking a little embarrassed for a moment. "Um, nothing important, Captain, we are just experiencing a… um… a minor technical hitch with the artificial gravity at the moment, nothing that won't be fixed by tomorrow of course. It does mean, however, that no one can go aboard or leave the Rasputin for the moment. Well... not without a lot of trouble anyway, as we had to…"

"Artificial gravity?" Susan looked a little amazing, for as far as she had known Earth did not yet possess a functioning artificial gravity system. "I wasn't aware the Warlock class vessels had artificial gravity."

"Well it doesn't at the moment," Philip Moore said with a light, teasing laugh, interrupting the doctor's explanation. "That is the problem."

"It does actually," Kozlowski said, his voice rising slightly in response to the engineers prodding. "There are just some minor issues with some of the more complex systems. There is nothing wrong that we can not fix, but until the system is repaired the ship can not get under way."

Philip laughed again. "Right, whatever you say doctor. If you ask me the whole system is faulty. When we first tested it, not only did it take up nearly the entire output of four fusion reactors, that's four by the way, each larger and far more advanced than the old Omega reactors, but we couldn't fire any the ships primary guns without crashing the whole systems."

Susan looked slightly concerned at this, and Kozlowski quickly rushed to assure her. "Don't worry captain, we have since added two new experimental gravitic-enhanced reactors, dedicated to supporting the artificial gravity, as well as providing backup power support to the rest of the ship's system."

Philip snorted at this. "Of course, it wasn't until the Minbari came through with the technical specs for their artificial gravity systems that we were able to build them. Originally we were going to mount solar panels aft of the missile pylons for additional power."

The doctor looked indignant at this. "They would have worked, my biosilicate design was nearly one hundred percent efficient. With two additional standard reactors, the solar panels and the advanced storage cells, we could have had a functioning AG system without any assistance from the Minbari."

"On paper, Nathan, we never fully tested your designs. I still have reservations about the power load from AG while in combat, the continual drain from sustained weapons fire could caused an overload."

The doctor was just about to answer again when Susan spoke up, wanting to end the argument before it went on for too long. Obviously, this was something the two men argued about often, but it was giving her a headache. "Enough, all I want to know is when I can go aboard, when can I meet my crew, and when the ship will be operational."

Philip and Nathan looked at each other and the doctor consulted some notes for a minute before answering. "Um, well you could go aboard now, but there won't be much in the way of gravity until we replace the damaged coils on deck nine and ten and reboot the system. Then, we still have that water leakage problem on deck eight, so it would be best to stay here for now. The AG system should be up and running again sometime tonight... with any luck, and that should enable us to fix most of the other problems. It was only a short in one of the less important circuits so that will be repaired and replaced in a few hours. Then we have to check the rest of the circuits and you will be able to board after the commissioning ceremony tomorrow morning. We can finish reinforcing the water tanks later, I'm sure the seals won't break again."

"Don't worry Captain," Philip cut in. "I won't let him start pulling it all apart again like he did last month. I know they have had you waiting on Station Prime for nearly a month now, so if it can be ready in time it will be."

Susan nodded and asked, "that's something to look forward too at least, but where will I be staying for the night."

Philip smiled, "there has been a room put aside for you in the habitat ring. Right next to the ISN quarters."

Susan groaned, "Please tell me you are joking."

"I am afraid not captain, it was the only room available. If it makes you feel any better I can order security to ensure their doors are locked at night. That way they can't get out and start running around wreaking things." Philip's tone was only half teasing as he said this.

"That might be best," Susan said with a faint smile.

"Yes, I imagine that you must be getting quite sick of them by now."

Susan nodded and was about to reply when she noticed something through the large windows that looked out over the construction yards. As the station rotated, a massive ship was just coming into view. "It that her," she asked, slightly in awe of what she saw.

"Yep, that's the Rasputin all right, quite a beauty isn't she." Philip walked over to the window to look out at the silver and grey-hulled vessel sitting idle in the construction dock, the occasional blue spark from a welder showing where a construction crew was still working on the hull.

The doctor also walked over to join the other two, his papers forgotten for the moment as he looked in admiration at his creation. "The best ship in the fleet, more powerful that any other vessel in space now that the Vorlon's are gone."

Susan looked at him. "You can't be serious, what about the Minbari or the Centauri vessels. No Earthforce ship has ever been able to stand up against them."

The doctor looked out at his creation with a smug grin, before turning to Susan to answer her question. "Well this one can. It is designed to take a beating and keep on fighting, and if that gun hits a Minbari vessel then they will die just the same as any other ship."

Susan followed his arm and saw what the doctor was pointing out to her. Slung underneath the front of the ship was that largest gun she had seen on a warship, a huge weapon of destruction unlike any she had ever seen before. "What the hell is that?"

Philip laughed, "that captain is the heavy particle cannon. It is the pride and joy of the researchers out here on Neptune-Beta, the single most powerful starship-mounted weapon ever built by the Earth Alliance. Even the weapons on the old Earth defence grid wouldn't have been a match for this baby. It can cut through almost anything, and as far as we know there is no defence against it."

"It works similar to some of the Minbari weapons," Nathan Kozlowski added. "It fires a steam of charged particles across space and the beam can be used to slice an enemy vessel up, rather than just blow up sections like the plasma weapons."

Susan appeared suitably impressed, but somewhere in the back of her mind she felt niggling sensation that she had seen something very similar to what they were describing not so long ago. Before she could examine the ship further though, the station rotation took it away from the construction docks and the Rasputin was gone from view. She thought about waiting around until the station rotated again, but noticed that her guides were ready to move on.

"Come on, we might as well get going," Philip was saying. "You quarters for the night are off in this direction and you had best get settled if you are going to be on time to meet the admiral for dinner. He always has an early meal."

"Lead on then, now that you mention it I am feeling a little hungry." Susan smiled as she said that, but realised that she was hungry and wondered when she had last sat down for a proper meal. She thought about it for a moment and could not remember the last time. The past few months had been nothing more than quickly grabbed snacks or meals in her quarters, she had never had the time to sit down and eat with the rest of the crew, or at one of Babylon 5's various restaurants.

"Don't worry Captain," Doctor Kozlowski chuckled. "The admiral will give you a good feed, as you might have noticed he does like the odd snack."

By now, Susan and her companions had reached the entrance to one of the long passageways that crossed the open space between the various rotating sections of the space station. The passages between the various sections of the research station were in zero-g so a quick shuttle had been built to transport those who wished to travel between each section. The station itself was divided into five sections, docking, research, construction, habitat and command. Each section was linked by long glass corridors, down which the shuttles ran. Pressing the door control, Phillip stepped into the shuttle and waited until Susan and Nathan had joined him before operating the control that started the small shuttle towards the habitat section of the station.

Susan could see the whole station through the glass-like corridor as the shuttle hurtled down it towards the next section. She could also see her ship, and behind it another two vessels, one under construction and the third, covered with a dark, mottled hull, a hull-type that she recognised only too well. She could not help but shiver at the sight of the Warlock, remembering again the sight of the modified Earth destroyers leaping from hyperspace all around her and the deaths of those on the other White Star's and then finally the collision and the blackness that followed.

Philip noted her looking at the Warlock and the way she reacted, but did not say anything. Unlike most of those working on the station, he knew that she had lead the White Star's that had destroyed the modified Omega's, vessels that had been modified here at Neptune-Beta. It was still a bit of a sore point with some of the researchers here, and he did not want to remind the doctor about it. They had been his babies after all.

Susan was not willing to let it pass so easily though and as soon as their shuttle had reached the habitat section and they were under the effects of a normal gravity again she asked, "What was that second vessel we passed just then?"

Dr. Kozlowski looked at her. "What vessel? Do you mean the Warlock?"

"Yes. I want to know why it's here. Don't you realise that it is using Shadow technology."

"Shadow Technology?" the doctor looked at her, a quizzical expression on his face.

"Yes, the hull, it is the same as the advanced-tech Omega destroyers Clark used in the war."

The doctor looked confused for a moment, and then with a look of dawning comprehension he added. "Oh you mean the biosilicate armour on the hull. Yes, we did use that to modify some of the older destroyers last year. The armour proved quite effective during testing, although some people did have a somewhat adverse reaction to the initial design for some reason. They said they found it somewhat disconcerting to be near. So we had to alter the hull of the production models."

Susan almost sighed in relief, but instead just nodded. "Good, I don't think I would want to be on a vessel like that one. Anything related to the Shadows still scares the hell out of me."

The doctor was about to open his mouth and tell her something, but Philip slapped his large hand across it, before Kozlowski could speak. He did not want to upset the captain, not now anyway. She would have to learn later that the Rasputin had the same hull as the Warlock, it just had another layer of more standard hull material across the surface, hiding the semi-organic biosilicate hull beneath.

Susan shuddered at the thought of the Shadow vessels, the way they had screamed in her mind as they had passed. She hadn't told anyone yet, but she had been more effected by them than the others. She, as a latent telepath had picked up more intensely the thoughts of pain, anger, and horror that had come from the ships, but without training to use her abilities had been unable to block them out like Lyta and the other telepaths that they had used during the war. She had felt the full force of the screams and the thoughts of what she had felt and heard still haunted her crowded nightmares.

Philip and Kozlowski were waiting for her, the engineer's face showing his concern. Silently she cursed herself for showing her fear and straightened up. "Which way to this room you were talking about," she asked the engineer, trying to look calm and collected, and brush aside her reaction to the sight of the Warlock.

"This way," Philip answered, pointing down a corridor. "There aren't many others around at the moment, but most of the station crew will be down here later. The doctor and I have to be return to the construction dock though; we still have some repairs to complete. I believe that the Admiral sent someone to unload your possessions and put them aboard the Rasputin."

"Good," Susan said as she walked steadily down the corridor, her irrational fear at the sight of the Warlock now gone.

"Oh and that reminds me, a package arrived for you from Babylon 5 last week. I think it is in your quarters here on the station."

Susan looked confused. "A package. I wasn't expecting anything. I took everything I cared about with me when I left."

Philip shrugged. "All I know is that it arrived last week, addressed for you, from President Sheridan I think."

Susan was even more confused now, but hid it with a nod, as if to show the engineer that his explanation had made everything clear. She followed the two men down a corridor before Philip halted outside a door, sliding a card into the lock to open it. Inside was a basic room, with little more than a bunk, shower cubicle, and some other basic furnishings. Sitting on the floor was a large plastic packing container, the package that Philip had mentioned.

The engineer handed her the card he had used to open the door. "Well here you go captain, dinner is in about an hours time. We are fairly informal when off duty around here so you don't need to wear your uniform. The computer can direct you if you need to find the way around, or you just ask one of the crew. I have to return to the Rasputin, but will see you tomorrow morning at the ceremony."

Susan nodded and said, "thanks for showing me around Lt. Commander."

The tall engineer just smiled again, flashing his white teeth. "No trouble at all Captain, we are shipmates now after all, and we all have to get along if we are going to be serving together. Come on Nathan, lets get going, we have work to do."

The doctor was again busy with his reports, so Philip grabbed him by the arm. Startled he dropped a couple of papers and Susan bent down to pick them up. "Thank you captain," he said as she handed them back to him. "I am sure you will enjoy serving on my ship, it is after all the best in the fleet, all the latest upgrades, all the latest improvements. There is nothing we have left out, it is not like that old station you have been on for the last few years."

"I am sure I will doctor," she said, slightly annoyed at the way he had dismissed Babylon 5. After all to her is hadn't been some old station, but her home. "But for now I need a shower, something to eat, and a good nights sleep. I will see you later." With that she turned towards the computer and said, "close." With barely a sound, the door to the room shut and left her alone again, at least for a little while.

* * *

A sonic shower was never the same as a real hot water one, but on a starship or space station, it was usually the best one could expect. They felt similar, but Susan had grown used to her shower on Babylon 5, one of the few on the station that had been allowed to use real water. Only the senior officers quarters, and the ambassadors had running water, and it was one of the things that she was really going to miss about Babylon 5. It had been her one luxury that she would allow herself everyday, well that and the coffee that she had grown herself in the botanical gardens. She knew that it was unlikely that she would feel warm water against her skin again for some time, as on a starship water was even rarer than on a station like Neptune-Beta, or Babylon 5.

Stepping out of a sonic shower was never the same either. When she had finished showering back on Babylon 5 she could always look forward to drying herself with the soft Centauri towels she had received from Londo Mollari as a birthday present the first year she had been there, but with a sonic shower she was already dry so all she could do was get dressed. It was not the same, but she would have to get used to it. At least she felt clean now. A sonic shower did clean you as thoroughly as a real shower at least, although they had always seemed to leave her feeling cold when she got out.

At least her room was nice and warm. The first thing she had done had been to turn up the temperature a few extra degrees, giving the room a much more cosy feel than it had before. This station, like all of those built since the Minbari war, allowed each room to maintain a separate temperature, instead of the single constant temperature that the older stations maintained. She had also dimmed the lights a little, trying to make it feel a bit more like her quarters back on Babylon 5. Susan knew she would only be here for one night, but she was determined to get as much out of it as possible as it was unlikely that she could expect much in the way of luxuries once she was on board the warship.

She say down on the bunk and ran her brush through her hair, trying to work out some of the tangles that had gathered there over the past few weeks. During her time on Station Prime she had not really been concerned about her appearance and now her hair really needed some work. As she was sitting there she noticed the plastic crate that her guide had pointed out earlier, the one from John. Putting down her brush, she knelt down beside it, curious to see what was inside.

Sitting on top was a data crystal, which had probably been delivered at the same time, so she picked that up and slid it into the viewer.

The wall mounted screen showed the B5 logo for a moment before clearing into the smiling face of John Sheridan, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. "Susan, I hope this finds you well and happy. A few of us back here decided to put this package together for you, just so you could have a few things to remind you of happier times. I know you left with so little, so we decided to send you a few items that we thought you might need. I know there probably won't be much room on your new ship, but I think you be able to squeeze this crate in as well. I hope you enjoy everything we sent, Lennier and Garibaldi spent a while putting it together. Anyway, I don't have much time so I guess I will look forward to seeing you when you come to visit. Just don't leave it too long, we want to at least hear from you sometime Susan."

The short message ended and Susan frowning, wondering just what was in the package. For a moment, she contemplated opening it later when she was on the Rasputin, but finally she didn't want to wait any longer. Quickly undoing the seal of the packing case and lifted the lid to expose its contents. She gave a slight gasp at what she saw, a collection of beautiful Minbari cloth covering the upper layer of the crate. She quickly pulled them out and ran the soft cloth along her cheek, enjoying the smoothness, and silky feel she had always enjoyed. There were several items of clothing, all for off-duty wear, and a long gown, similar to the ones Delenn often wore. The Minbari seemed to have rituals for everything, even designing clothes and for them to send her so many beautiful garments showed how highly they valued her.

Underneath the gown however was even more. Several bottles of Centauri wine, probably from Londo or Vir. All had been stamped with the logo of house Mollari, and were similar to those she had seen Londo drinking in his quarters whenever she had gone to visited. Next to that was a pile of Narn cookware, and a carved spice rack, made from what looked like bloodwood. Obviously G'Kar didn't want to be outdone by the Centauri so had spent her an even more expensive gift. Then there was a pile of data crystals, featuring some of her favourite music, probably from Stephen. Finally, there was a pair of Daffy Duck boxer shorts, and a small collection of data crystals with titles that made her blush. There she realised were from Garibaldi, recognising his perverse sense of humour. Well, at least he was back to normal now.

Susan realised that John must have organised all of her friends on Babylon 5 to send something to remind her both of them and the station that had been her home for so long. She couldn't help but cry at his thoughtfulness, hugging the Minbari gown to her chest as tears ran down her cheeks. Even though she had left them behind, they still thought of her, still cared enough about her to send her such beautiful gifts. For a moment, she felt intensely homesick, wishing that she were back on Babylon 5 with Garibaldi, Sheridan, and the rest. The feeling passed though as she remembered Marcus, Babylon 5 would never feel the same without him, and every time she went into the war room, or Medlab, or the hundreds of other places she had seen him then she would be reminded of him, and would feel his loss again.

Sniffing she wiped away the tears and checking the clock on the vid screen realised that she was going to be late for dinner unless she got moving. She considered what to wear, Philip had said that it was informal, but she didn't really have anything but her uniform. Then she remembered what she was holding and smiled at the thought of her walking into the officer's mess dressed in Minbari clothing. She decided that it probably wouldn't be the best idea and repacked everything Sheridan has sent her and resealed the crate, before struggling back into her Earthforce uniform.

It proved to be the best choice as the Admiral and several other officers were also dressed in their uniforms, despite what Philip had said earlier. She wondered for a moment if her new chief engineer hadn't been trying to play some sort of joke on her, but then Admiral Kiernan was motioning for her toward his table and she soon found herself sitting beside him, facing a group of civilians, all wearing ISN press badges. Inwardly she groaned at the sight, although knowing that they were probably here to cover the launch of the new destroyer, after all it was not every day that Earthforce launched a completely new class of vessel. She could not help but feel that they were here because of her though.

For the moment, they seemed more interested in their meals, as did everyone on the table. A steward soon arrived with her meal, a concoction of chicken and what looked like mango slices. Chicken wasn't her favourite, but she did like tropical fruit. Tucking in she was soon enjoying one of the first proper meals she had eaten in a long time.

The Admiral seemed to be enjoying his meal as well, judging by the amount on his plate. Wiping his mouth on a napkin he turned to her and asked, "So Captain Ivanova, what do you think of the Rasputin. I gather you got a bit of a look at her earlier."

At his words, she could have sworn that the entire ISN crew suddenly perked up and looked in her direction, and she could almost see their hands reaching for notepads and recording devices that they probably had hidden beneath the table, ready to catch anything she said. Then again, she just might be a little paranoid as well. "Very impressive Admiral, I am certainly looking forward to serving on her."

"Indeed, she is the finest vessel in the fleet Captain, and you are very lucky to get her."

"I thought so as well Admiral," Susan agreed, again wondering why exactly she had been offered the command, especially after all she had fought on the other side during the war.

"Yes, well it seemed that Earthdome was most impressed with the way that you have handled yourself recently and wanted to see what you could do with a command of your own. Besides it seems that you are something of a celebrity these days, even more so than Sheridan." The Admiral turned and stared at the ISN crew, who looked slightly guilty for a moment before appearing to focus their attention on their meals, and the plates of dessert that were just being bought to the table from the kitchen.

The Admiral picked up his and then, motioning Susan to do the same, stood and walked over to the large window that looked out into space. She followed and they sat down in at an empty table looking out at the vast bulk of Neptune as it slowly appeared to drift by the window, although it was actually the station that was moving, not he planet. "I was actually in favour of you taking this command, Susan, and that is mainly why you were offered it. Before Clark, you were always one the most dedicated and loyal of our younger officers and I hope this is still so."

"Of course Admiral, I have always been loyal to Earth."

Admiral Kiernan nodded. "Yes I know you have, as were all of those who fought, no matter what side they were on. It was Clark and those who worked with him we should have been concern with all along. When his researchers arrived here with shuttle loads of alien artefacts, I knew there was something wrong. He spent so much time talking about the Alien influence on earth, yet here we were deciphering artefacts from worlds I didn't even know existed."

"The Shadows," Susan said grimly.

"Shadows? I don't think I ever heard about them. Is that where the artefacts came from?"

Susan nodded, and Kiernan could see a slight look of apprehension, or even fear on her face, a look she quickly hid. "We fought against them, while all the while Clark was working with them, trying to harness their technology for his own purposes."

"Then that was what was going on," Kiernan said, everything now becoming clear to him. "We heard stories of course, about a war among the alien world, but never had any of the details. Out here we were pretty much kept in the dark about what was going on, with only ISN and what they wanted us to know getting through. All I knew was that ship loads of researchers were coming and going, and then after Kozlowski deciphered how to grow more of that biosilicate or what ever he calls it we were asked to refit a fleet of destroyers."

"Yes I know," Susan said, thinking back on the battle she had fought against the modified Omega's. "I fought against them in the war."

"And destroyed them as well," Kiernan said. "That was partly why I wanted you to command the Rasputin. You had the most experience with these ships, and the Warlock class vessels still use a lot of this alien technology, as well as some we developed ourselves from a captured Minbari fighter left over from the Earth-Minbari war, one that we never returned to the Minbari."

Susan looked surprised as he said this. "I though only the Warlock used the Shadow technology, Dr Kozlowski said something about the Rasputin's hull being altered."

Kiernan nodded again. "Yes a conventional outer layer was added after they found people didn't like looking at the Warlock's hull, something about it giving them nightmares. But the original hull is still there, beneath the surface."

Susan shivered again at the thought of it. Kiernan noticed this and quickly spoke to reassure her. "I wouldn't worry though we have made a lot of changes since the Omega modifications. I don't understand the science behind it, but the biosilicate has been modified to grow more regular, less organic, it used to develop growths, spikes I guess you could call them. Everything has been harnessed and is kept under control now, much like any other piece of Earth technology. I guess it is like anything that joins Earthforce, we soon straighten it out."

Smiling faintly at the Admiral's attempted joke, Susan felt a little better, but she knew she was not looking forward to serving on the ship quite as much now. Her mind was filled with thoughts of the screams of the Shadows and their weapons slicing into everything they hit. "I hope you are right Admiral," she said. "The Shadows were an evil race, and their weapons and technology was just like them. You didn't see their planet killer, and what it did to worlds."

The Admiral turned away from the window. "Well I don't think you have too much to worry about. Kozlowski is a genius, if a little absent minded. The other researchers they sent us just tried to modify our vessels to fit the technology, and you saw the results. Kozlowski though modified the technology to fit our vessels and altered it considerably. I have been on board the Rasputin several times, as have your crew and I haven't noticed the same feeling I felt when I was on those Omega's yet."

"Good," Susan said with some considerable relief. She had fought against the modified Omega destroyers, and they had been tough, but she had not intention of serving on one of them. The Rasputin had looked normal enough when she had glimpsed it earlier, but she knew that such appearances often covered up surprises below the surface. She was also curious about her crew. Apart from Philip Moore, the engineer she had yet to meet any of them. She asked the Admiral about this.

Admiral Kiernan was busy eyeing the untouched meal sitting in front of Dr Kozlowski and a little distracted, so her question caught him a little off guard. "Hmm, what was that, the crew. Well they are a good enough bunch, most have been appointed by Earth Central so I don't really know them that well. Some of the engineering crew are from this station though, and they are all good men and woman. As for the others well I can't really tell you anything about them. You will meet them all tomorrow at the ceremony though."

Susan looked a little disappointed. She would have liked to get to know everyone a little before the set off, as she knew that once the ship was commissioned she was expected to fly her out of the dock, although where exactly she had not been told yet. She decided that it might be time to get some rest, for some reason what the Admiral had told her about the destroyer had filled her with apprehension. "Well I had best be getting some sleep then Admiral, I want to be fresh for tomorrow."

"Good idea, would you like me to show you back to your quarters Captain?"

Susan smiled and as graciously as possible turned down his offer and then extracted herself from the room, getting away before the reporters from ISN could corner her with yet more questions. Almost running down the corridor, she returned to her room and after pausing only to take off her jacket before lying down on her bunk.

She felt incredibly tired, despite the nap she had on the shuttle earlier that day. She had thought that she would have been able to move into her quarters on the destroyer that day, but that had not proven possible, and then had come the revelation that the hull had been based on the Shadow vessels. She knew that this wasn't going to be easy, but she should have known that Earthforce wouldn't give up the technology they had gained from the Shadows so easily, despite the fact that they were Clark's allies. Now she was going to be stuck on a vessel using this technology for several months at least.

She knew she was stuck, trapped by her guilt and job. She couldn't go back to Babylon 5, and there was nothing left for her on Earth will all of her family now dead, and here she was, stuck on a ship that she knew she was going to hate. Susan sobbed softly into her pillow as she drifted off to sleep and into the arms of the nightmares, the same ones she had suffered from every night for the past two years.

Soon she was moaning and twisting on the bed as they took hold and she again saw her friends die again and again in her dreams, with the screams of the Shadow vessels cutting into her mind. This time though it was her in control of the Shadow vessel, it was her doing the killing, and there was nothing she could do to stop herself.

* * *


	3. Chapter 3

* * *

**January 31, 2262, Neptune-Beta.**

_"We are now going live to the commissioning ceremony for Earthforce's latest warship, the EAS Rasputin, first of the new Warlock class advanced destroyers. Designed with all of the latest technology, including artificial gravity, this vessel is destined to become the flagship of the Earth Alliance fleet. As we mentioned in our report yesterday the Rasputin will be commanded by Captain Susan Ivanova, hero of the war against president Clark. As you can see from the pictures we are now receiving they are just about to begin, so we now go live to Neptune."_

Susan unsuccessfully tried to hide a yawn as the ISN crew focused their recorders on the warship behind her. She was still tired from her restless night and it had been very difficult dragging herself out of bed this morning to face the reporters. Still she had done it and had even managed to make herself look presentable, mainly thanks to a clean uniform that someone had thoughtfully left in her quarters while she had been off having dinner the previous night. She hadn't noticed when she returned to her temporary quarters last night, but this morning was glad it was there, especially as she had spent the night sleeping in her old uniform. This might explain why she hadn't slept well at all.

She was annoyed that the reporters were here, as it seemed obvious to her that Earthforce was only allowing them in to demonstrate to the alien governments and Sheridan's new alliance that the Earth Alliance still strong, despite the destruction of a large number of ships in the recent civil war. The ISN crew was certainly being allowed plenty of time to examine the ship, especially the heavy weapons and the fighter bays at the front. She disliked the whole thing, in fact, she disliked reporters in general, but the Admiral had insisted that she be here. As the first captain of one of the new Warlock destroyers, Susan could understand the need for her presence, but it also seemed to her as though she was part of some sort of perverse publicity campaign.

At least she had finally been able to meet her crew this morning. The problems with the Artificial Gravity had been fixed apparently and everyone had gathered in one of the station's docking bays, the one closest to the massive bulk of the Rasputin so ISN could record plenty of vid images of the new ship. The senior officers of the Rasputin were a very diverse bunch, even compared to the Babylon 5 command staff.

Her executive officer was Gregor Petrov, a thin, wiry, Russian from the Moscow megacity. He seemed to have a permanent scowl on his face, but at least he appeared to have taken a likening to her, perhaps because she too had been born in Russian Consortium. He was likely a conservative like her father, one of those who still wished for the good old days of the past when all the nations were independent of each other and only Russians could guide the destiny of other Russians. Still she decided that she also liked him, as it was likely that he had disliked Clark and Earthdome as much as she had.

Alister Schmitt and Vincent Dreyer, in charge of the fighter squadrons and ships weapons respectively she was less sure of. Both were from the European Union, and both had the look and demeanour of career officers, the sort who would never ever disobey the orders of their commanders. They had probably served Clark's side during the war, and this could probably lead to trouble. After all, she had been one of the leaders of the rebel force and it was only because of the amnesty that Sheridan had managed to drag out of the new Earth Alliance president that she was not facing a court marshal right now, instead of being given command of the new Earth Alliance flagship.

The other two members of the command staff she had liked however, at least at their first meeting. Philip Moore, the Polynesian engineer still looked as cheerful as ever, despite probably spending most of the night working on the ship's repairs. He had waved to her when she had arrived for breakfast, appearing worn out from her nightmare-filled sleep the night before. She didn't know exactly what to make of Amanda Taylor, the ships doctor though. She was from Mars according to her record, and had only joined Earthforce three years ago. Why she had been given such a high profile posting Susan didn't know, but the blonde woman seemed nice enough when they had met at breakfast.

Admiral Kiernan had told her that the rest of the command staff, which as far as she could tell meant only the commander of the ship's marines, was waiting for her at Mars, apparently the first port of call for the Rasputin after it left the station. For now, the ship was only operating with a skeleton crew, with almost a thousand new crewmembers awaiting her arrival on Mars to come aboard. The few that were here were more than enough for the short journey through patrolled space, with no trouble expected in either hyperspace or in space near Mars, despite recent reports of raider trouble near some of the inner colonies.

Her thoughts about her crew were soon interrupted though as Admiral Kiernan turned to her and invited her up onto the podium to introduce her, the ISN recorders turning to watch her again. With a forced smile, she crossed the room to stand beside him as he spoke. "And now I would like to introduce Captain Susan Ivanova who will be commanding the Rasputin."

Susan smiled mechanically for the ISN crew as the Admiral continued to describe the vessel, how it was the pride of the Earth Alliance fleet, and the ship that would show to the other races that Earth continued to design warships as well as them, if not better. She barely concentrated on his words, instead trying her best not to look bored or too tired for the recorders. Then she realised that he had finished talking and was looking at her. She felt a sudden fear, not knowing what to say or what he had been saying, but then noticed his finger, hidden from the ISN reporters by the podium, pointing toward a button and realised what he wanted. With another smile for ISN, she turned towards the window looking out on the warship and waited until the station rotated enough for the Rasputin to come into view again. Then when it was coming into view she pushed down the button and the recorders turned to watch as the arm of one of the maintenance robots, which had been positioned outside the docking bay, tossed a bottle of champagne across space towards the hull of the Rasputin in the time honoured ritual used to christen a new ship.

She watched the bottle's flight, following its path as it spun slowly through space before shattering against the thick hull of the new warship, just below the section of hull where the ship's name had been inscribed. A cheer went up from the crowd gathered in the docking bay, and continued for about ten seconds, before the warship moved out of view again as the station continued its rotation. Susan smiled as she thought of the maintenance bots that would likely now be rushing to collect all the shattered glass from the bottle. Even the tiniest piece of glass could be deadly if it struck a fast moving fighter craft like a Starfury. The station's sensors had probably been tracking the bottle through its whole flight, so what was left of it could be gathered quickly. It seemed a silly thing to do given the risks to vessel, but tradition demanded that the ceremony be performed as it always had been, despite the fact that modern vessels no longer sailed the seas of Earth, but the depths of space.

She soon turned away from the window and went to join the rest of her command staff and the researchers that had gathered in the docking bay. They were busy handing around glasses of champagne, and trays of food. She didn't really feel like eating anything more right now, but took a glass of the champagne. With gritted teeth she managed to fight her way through the long party that followed, smiling nicely whenever someone came to congratulate her on her command, and answering the questions of the ISN crew and nicely as possible, despite the annoyance that she felt at their presence. Inside she could only hope that it would all be over soon. Despite her experiences with diplomacy on Babylon 5, she still didn't like standing around drinking and chatting with people. She was a woman of action not a desk jockey like Kiernan, who was certainly in his element here, holding court on the far side of the docking bay, describing the herculean efforts of his researchers as they had designed and put together the Warlock and Rasputin. She on the other hand tried to stay out of his orbit as much as possible and avoid the spotlight if she could.

"Having fun yet Captain," the voice of Philip Moore asked from behind her.

She turned around and saw the engineer and Amanda Taylor, the ship's doctor, standing close behind her. "Of course," She said with a slightly sarcastic smile. "Who wouldn't be enjoying this."

Philip laughed, recognising her sarcasm for what it was. "Don't worry captain, you will soon be aboard. I think you will find it quite an amazing vessel."

"So I have been told time and time again," Susan said. "I would like to see for myself though, before passing any judgments."

"Don't worry Captain," Amanda spoke up. "The Rasputin has all the latest advances, and even I was impressed when I saw the medical facilities. Very nice indeed, a lot better than what I expected on a warship."

"Well I look forward to seeing them then," Susan said, still not really impressed, especially after her experience with the White Star's, and the other Minbari vessels. "I suppose at least the beds will be horizontal."

Amanda and Philip looked a little confused by this, not knowing the Minbari practice of sleeping at a forty-five degree angle. "Well you won't have long to wait now," Philip said. "In fact it seem that we are about to head off now. The Admiral has just finished giving his speeches, in record time by the looks of things."

Susan turned around again and saw that Admiral Kiernan had indeed finished talking and was motioning for her and the rest of her crew to come over to his side so they could board the shuttle that would take them over to the Rasputin. She noticed with no small amount of pleasure that the ISN reporters were being guided out of the docking bay and the only ones left were the Admiral, Dr Kozlowski, her crew, and the pilot and crew of the shuttle.

"Come on Captain," the Admiral was saying. "We want to get moving as soon as we can. You might like to sit up front with our pilot though and get a good look at your ship before we go aboard. I am sure you have been anxious to have a close look at her." The Admiral pointed out the ladder to the shuttle's cockpit.

"I certainly have Admiral," she agreed, grabbing hold of the small ladder that lead into the Phoenix class shuttle's cockpit, and preparing to drag herself upwards. Before she could though a hand reached down from the cabin and hauled her aboard, and she found herself being welcomed into her seat by the young, sandy-haired pilot. She smiled nicely at the young pilot, while refusing his offer of the shuttle's controls. After all, she was a captain now, and that meant getting others to do the work for you.

The pilot did not seem to mind her turning down his offer and soon had the shuttle under way, the four thrusters on it's underside lifting it smoothly off the deck of the docking bay and then into space. The large thrusters at the aft of the shuttle began to chew through the hydrogen fuel as they pushed the vessel out of the gravity field generated by the rotation of the docking ring and into space. Then with another quick burst of power from the aft thrusters the shuttle began gliding toward the Rasputin.

From her vantage point in the cockpit of the shuttle, she could see the huge warship slowly come into view, its silvery-grey hull sliding slowly into view from behind the bulk of the station docking bay. Susan was surprised how it made her feel, almost excited about going aboard, despite her fears about the Shadow Technology that it contained. It was truly a magnificent ship, over two thousand metres of pure beauty, and power. Unlike the older destroyers, the new Warlock class no longer had the appearance of a collection of boxes cluttered along a central hull. This new class was obviously designed to impress, with smoother lines and highly visible weapons. It made the old Omega's and even the vast explorer ships, vessels she had always wanted to serve on, look like ugly ducklings when compared to it.

At the front of the vessel Susan could see the lethal looking barrel of the heavy particle cannon, sitting just below the fighter bays, which sat ready to pour fighters out at any enemy that came within range. Then behind the bow she could see the smooth, slightly bulging upper hull that contained the habitat sections of the ship, dotted with a number of turreted heavy weapons and interceptors. Gone was the rotating section that had provided gravity for those on board the older destroyers. Instead, the bridge and rest of the crew decks were hidden, just another part of the hull, no longer the obvious target for any attacker that they had been on the Omega class. Roughly halfway along the hull two huge missile pylons jutted out from the sides of the ship, their combined capacity providing enough missile silos for a sustained planetary assault. Behind the missile pylons, Susan could see the entrance into the ship's shuttle bays, as well as what appeared to be the engineering section with its refuelling lines for tender ships and finally, the six huge engines.

The shuttle then began to turn and run parallel to the hull of the Rasputin, bound for the large, dark opening of the shuttle bay Susan had seen near the centre section of the ship. Up close, the hull began to lose some of its shine, and she noticed that it appeared somewhat similar to the hulls of older earth warships, with slightly overlapping armour plates covering the outer surface. These seemed to have been moulded to the ship's frame better than any she had seen before though, and it was almost impossible to see the joins. However, if what Philip had been telling her was correct though this vessel was designed differently, with the main hull beneath the surface, and just a thin metallic layer covering the outside. She didn't really want to think too much about it right at the moment though. During the short flight, she had been avoiding looking towards the black silhouette that was the Warlock, in its own dock on the far side of her ship.

The flight looked like it was nearly over now though, as the young pilot began to fire the forward braking thrusters, slowing the shuttle and preparing for landing. Susan watched intently as the shuttle slowed, coming ever closer to the large opening that was the shuttle bay, appearing to her as though it was about to be swallowed by some sort of gigantic mouth. T hen it was through and, with one last burst of the forward thrusters, which bought it almost to a stop, the shuttle came to rest on the floor of the vast airlock leading into the shuttle bay.

* * *

Susan didn't really know what to suspect, so was a little surprised that the shuttle bay looked much the same as the other earth-designed docking bays she had seen on Babylon 5 and elsewhere. Because of the size of the destroyer, it even had a lift platform that would collect the incoming shuttle and cycle it through the large airlock before it was lifted by large clamps mounted on the roof. The lift then slid away and the shuttle was lowered gently by the clamps until it was resting on the floor of the main docking bay.

Below her, on the docking bay floor Susan could see the same scattered collection of crates and tools that had been common place on Babylon 5, and the scurrying crew members who hurried to get the boarding ladders up to the shuttle's main doors, situated somewhere behind her. Susan undid her restraints and pushed open the cockpit door, before swinging around and climbing down the ladder the pilot had thoughtfully extended. It didn't hit her until she had reached the ground, but the docking bay had gravity. The Rasputin's artificial gravity was not quite as strong as Earth normal, but it was close enough to barely notice the difference. Obviously, the AG system had been fixed now, although she could still see several torn up sections of flooring not to far away, with tools piled around them and the blue arches of welding equipment shining up from below.

She had only just reached the bottom the ladder by the time the Admiral and the rest of the shuttle's occupants were beginning to walk down the stairs. Walking quickly, she moved to intercept them, making sure they saw how impressed she was with what she had seen of the Rasputin so far. Admiral Kiernan noticed her admiration and could not help boasting about his ship. "Pretty impressive is it not Captain, artificial gravity on almost every deck now. Makes a bit of a difference from the old days of the Earth-Minbari war when you had to strap yourself into your station, or even your bunk, for most of the time."

"You were in the war Admiral," she asked, a little surprised that he had been involved as he didn't really seem the sort who had ever been a soldier.

"Sure was, attached to the Vega fleet. We saw a fair bit of action too, very lucky to get out in one piece. Our ship's electronics were taken out once and we were left to die by the Minbari in deep space. Luckily we were rescued before life support failed all together, but we still had to spend a fair amount of time freezing our butts off in our environment suits."

Susan nodded. She knew only too well what it would have been like, trapped in a dying starship with failing life support, it was one of her greatest fears. In space, the heat and oxygen provided by the life support system were the most important things needed for survival. If heat failed then the cold darkness of space would quickly creep through the thin hulls and into the vessel and its crew would freeze, and if oxygen failed, or the hull was breached then they would die even sooner from decompression. She had only once been forced to rely on her environment suit, when she had been forced to eject from her Starfury outside Babylon 5, but even that one time had been enough, and it had only lasted for a few minutes.

"But that was all a long time ago now," the Admiral continued. "After the war I was promoted and eventually ended up posted here to Neptune-Beta. Never thought we would ever see anything like this beauty coming out of here though, makes me wish we had these Warlock's back when we fought the Minbari."

"Well we have her now, Admiral," interrupted Commander Petrov as he squeezed past the Admiral to join Susan on the deck of the shuttle bay. "I for one am looking forward to serving on her."

"Indeed Commander, she is a fine vessel." The Admiral then suddenly realised that he was blocking everyone else from exiting the shuttle and quickly walked out of the way of the ladder. "Well, Captain. Shall we take a quick tour?"

"Sounds like a good idea, Admiral. I am certain eager to learn more about my new command. Will you be showing us around?" Susan asked as she stood to one side and watched as the rest of the crew filed down the stairs, Dr Kozlowski the last of all. He quickly moved over to have a look at the work that was still being done on the artificial gravity, still carrying a pile of papers and a data pad.

The Admiral watched him go, and then realising that he probably wouldn't be able to get the doctor away from his work smiled and gestured for Susan to follow him down the towards the end of the shuttle bay. The rest of her crew tagged along behind her, Gregor Petrov taking up a position by her side as she walked. Philip Moore was soon left behind the small group though as he joined Kozlowski in examining the work that was being done beneath the shuttle bay floor.

As he walked, the Admiral pointed out the lumbering shape of another Phoenix class shuttle on the other side of bay, sitting quietly on the deck. "As you can see we have two Phoenix shuttles here, as well as the four atmospheric capable light shuttles." As he spoke, he pointed towards four large doors, two along each side of the shuttle bay, indicating where the much smaller vessels were kept. "We also have the new prototype troop transport vessel in the rear section. You might be interested to see that."

Susan indicated that she would and the Admiral led her to another airlock, this one much smaller than the one they had passed through in the shuttle. The other side of the airlock must have been pressurised as it took only a moment for the cycle to be complete and for the other door to open. Susan was not ready for what was in the bay beyond though.

Lights set high in the roof of this new docking bay shone off the glistening black hull of a large spiky shape, something that at once reminding her of the shadow vessels. It sat like some sort of hideous spider, right in the middle of the bay. Even the Admiral couldn't resist a slight shudder at the sight of it. "Nasty little bugger isn't it. The Akira class troop transport they are calling it. It can hold a hundred marines and can fly through the atmosphere of a planet at high speed, some sort of new atmospheric shielding, or so I've been told. As you can see, the floor of this bay opens up and the ship can drop right out. That is why we keep this section clean of any crates or when the ship goes, they go with it."

"Well except those crates over there," Petrov pointed out, indicating four huge plastic boxes that were stacked against the wall of the bay."

"Those are the tanks, latest thing from R&D on Mars. They are supposed to attach to the transport somehow and then when it reaches a certain height in the atmosphere they detach and float down, ready to do fight off anything nasty that might be waiting. They have a heavy plasma cannon, large enough to punch a hole in most starships. The crew should be around here somewhere. They arrived a couple of days ago, so you will probably meet them before long."

"Well I would like to see a little more of the rest of the ship first," Susan spoke up, eager to be away from the hulking sight of the troop transport. "We can meet the rest of the crew later."

"Of course," the Admiral said, agreeing with her. "We will take the lift to the upper decks."

He turned back towards the main bay and yelled towards Kozlowski and Philip. "Is deck 8 open yet."

The doctor, who was crouched over the workers, who were busy welding below deck, looked up as he heard the Admiral's voice and consulted his notes before replying. "No not yet, the gravity is still shorted out there. The water wrecked most of the circuits in there. We will probably have to leave it closed for the moment. There is nothing important left in there though."

Susan turned to the Admiral and asked, "What was that all about. I heard him mentioning something about water yesterday when I arrived. If it something that is important to this ship then I should probably know about it."

The Admiral looked a little surprised she hadn't already been told and he quickly supplied the information. "Oh nothing bad. One of the water tanks on deck 8 burst yesterday morning when one of the welders cut through the plasti-steel while he was fixing a minor fault. It shorted out almost all the circuits on deck eight and flooded several sections. Trapped most of the crew on the upper decks and with the artificial gravity down it was a bit hard for them to get down to the shuttle bay. They have the lifts back online now though."

"What is in deck 8?"

"Just the water storage tanks, recycling equipment for the entire ship and the small botanical section. It should be easy enough to clean up. I think all they have to do is patch the tank and then pump out the water. Fortunately, each of the decks on this ship is self contained and sealed off from each other. From what I was told, it only shorted out the gravity and the main lift. Unfortunately with the lift down the only way onto the shuttle bay was for the crew to wade though the water and then climb down on the emergency hatches, not the easiest trip so most decided to stay on board last night."

"That was why we were not able to be there to meet you when you arrived last night Captain," spoke up Alister Schmitt from the back of the group.

"Yes," agreed Vincent Dreyer, the gunnery commander. "We were both stuck up front in the fighter bays for some time. They drained out most of the water last night though and the lift was back up and running again this morning."

"Speaking of the lift," Admiral Kiernan said, "we had best be using it. We do want to get this ship under way sometime today. We don't want those reporters thinking something has gone wrong now do we."

"Of course Admiral," agreed Susan. "Lead on."

The Admiral smiled and walked back into the main bay and towards the middle where Susan could see the twin turbo-lift system, the doors of one lift carriage already open and waiting to receive them.

* * *


	4. Chapter 4

* * *

With a slight hiss of escaping air, the lift doors opened on deck nine, which looked very different from the huge shuttle bay Susan and her party had just departed. Gone were the piles of crates and barrels and the huge, hulking shapes of the two shuttles and instead she now found herself looking at clean, empty passages heading off in several directions. It was very quiet here, with not even the slightest noise breaking the silence.

She commented on the lack of noise and the Admiral nodded, "Each deck is shielded against noise. We like to ensure everyone gets a good night's sleep. You will find all the crew decks like this one. This deck contains the main crew quarters. Towards the bow, we have quarters for your compliment of marines, while back towards the stern are the quarters for engineering and maintenance staff and the main rec areas. Anyway not much to see here, we might as well head up to the next deck. From here we can take the stairs."

Susan nodded, very impressed by what she had seen so far. Even on Babylon 5, it had always been possible to hear the faint noise of the human traffic outside her quarters. She didn't know about peace yet, but it looked like she was certainly going to be getting some quiet during her time on the Rasputin.

Gregor Petrov walked up alongside her and spoke quietly so only she could hear him. "You think this is impressive Captain, wait until you see the command quarters."

Susan looked over at him, and noticed for once the almost permanent scowl on his face appeared to be gone and he was smiling faintly. Behind her, she heard a faint giggle at his words, indicating that at least Dr Taylor had heard his words. Susan smiled back at him and said, "If they are anything like my quarters back on Babylon 5 Commander I will be very impressed indeed. Hell, as long as I don't have to pay rent on them I'll be happy."

"I think you will be impressed. It looks like they didn't spare any expense building her. I just hope it all works once we get her out of dock and into open space. Still the good doctor is supposed to be coming along with us, so if something goes wrong he will be there to patch it up. That's the theory anyway. I'm a little concerned that command thinks we might need his help. Most ships don't set out on their maiden voyages with their designers still on board. Oh and no you don't have to pay rent, privileges of rank and that sort of thing."

By now, they had reached the next deck but the Admiral didn't stop, instead he turned around and headed straight up the next flight of stairs. Susan turned to Petrov and looked to him for an explanation. He just shrugged and said, "Just more crew quarters, similar to the deck below. Most of the enlisted crew can be found on those two decks, with command staff, gunnery and flight crews on the upper decks. Gunnery towards the stern and the flight crews up front, so they can get to their fighters quickly if needed. Lower decks are reserved for passengers. The Warlock class is designed for a troop support role as well as for fleet command. The one good thing that came out of the Akdor fiasco if you ask me."

Susan nodded, seeing the reasoning behind the placement of the crew quarters. Any further discussion with Petrov had to be put on hold though, as she had now reached the next deck and Admiral Kiernan appeared keen to continue his tour.

"Well what we have here is the main deck," the Admiral was saying. "From here you can reach almost the entire ship." He pointed towards a long passage that seemed to run down the very middle of the deck. "This passage here lead to the fighter bays up front, and engineering towards the rear, as long as you don't mind a bit of a walk. However, as the designers weren't that keen on walking, we installed a fast transport system that can take you from one end of the ship to the other in a fraction of the time. We'll use it to visit the fighter bays in a minute, but first I thought you might like to look at this."

He led the small group along the main corridor towards the bow before stopping outside a set of large pressure-sealed doors on the starboard side of the passage. There was a pass-secured lock in front of the door that the Admiral slipped a card into, before taking a step back as the doors hissed open. Tossing the card to Susan who caught it, despite her surprise, he marched off into the room. Susan quickly pocketed the card and followed him into the room beyond.

Inside, a small collection of junior crewmembers was busy working in what appeared to be a busy command centre. They quickly came to attention and saluted as Kiernan entered the room one of them shouting out, "Admiral on the deck." The Admiral in question quickly waved them back to their posts and went on with his commentary. "This is the ship's computer hub, located about as far away from the hull as you can get. On either side of the central corridor, running about three decks up and down from this location we have the main computer cores that control virtually every system on the ship. You can actually run the entire ship from here if you need to, just in case the main bridge is knocked out."

"Very impressive," Susan commented, trying to ignore the curious stares of her new crew, eager to check out their captain.

"Don't say that until you see the main bridge," Petrov said.

Susan raised her eyebrow at this, but before she could speak, Lt-Commander Alister Schmitt spoke up, "I think you will find it is even more impressive that those fancy Minbari ships you have been flying about in."

"Alister," Gregor looked at the flight commander with a warning scowl.

"It is all right Commander," Susan said, smiling slightly at his protective attitude. "I happen to agree, it took me quite some time to get used to the White Star controls, and of course the crew only spoke in Minbari and I had to use an interpreter most of the time."

"I wished I could have seen one up close," Admiral Kiernan said with a faraway look in his eyes, as he returned to stand by Susan's side. "They looked very impressive flying over Earthdome on ISN. Such beautiful craft, I really would have liked to have one here, so we could take it apart and have a good look inside."

Susan almost laughed at what the Minbari would say about the Kiernan and his researchers tearing apart the ship, but managed to contain her amusement. Instead, she decided to give the Admiral something to look forward too saying, "you might get that chance Admiral. When I left Earthdome, there was some talk about building any new replacements for the Whitestar fleet in Earth construction yards. I don't know if that will come to pass, but it may."

"I don't see what is wrong with Earth designed ships," interrupted Alister Schmitt again. "At least they are Human."

The Admiral burst out laughing at this, Susan and Petrov smiling as well. The rest of the crew, both the rest of the command staff and the junior members on the secondary bridge looked on, wondering what was so funny. The Admiral soon filled them in. "You think this is a Earth designed vessel do you. Scratch off the hull a little and you will find it is as Alien as those White Stars, even more so. You saw that transport ship down below didn't you. Well the hull of the Rasputin is made of the same stuff, and believe me it didn't come from Earth R&D. In fact I don't know where Clark's researchers got it, and frankly I am not in too much of a hurry to find out."

That shut the Lt. Commander up for a while, and taking advantage of the quiet the Admiral led them out of the room and into the transporter that ran down the length of the ship. Once everyone was aboard, he ordered the transporter's computer head forward towards the fighter bays. It did so, sliding quickly and efficiently along its path, and they stepped off into a section of the ship that Susan found very familiar.

It reminded her of the fighter bays on Babylon 5, only a lot more confined. The Admiral quickly pointed out the two sets of drop chutes, one on either side of the main bay, and each holding six Starfurys ready to fly, the rest of the fighters arrayed on trolleys in neat rows ready to be deployed. "We don't actually have any pilots on board yet, you are supposed to get them at Mars, which will be your first stop. As you can see, we've used the standard fighter launch facilities for the Warlock class. You have twelve fighters loaded in quick launch drop shoots, and the rest can launch one at a time via the main airlocks in the bow. We have two forward landing back compared to the single bay on the older destroyers. This change allows for not only quick launches, but a quicker retrieval as well. "

"How many fighters do we carry," Susan asked, curious as she had always enjoyed her time in her Starfury back on Babylon 5.

Alister Schmitt stepped forward, his face showing a little pride now, as well some eagerness to show off his knowledge about his section of the ship. "I can answer that one Captain," he said. "We have four squadrons, the same as on the Omega's, or forty eight fighters all up. The squadron of Starfuries is loaded into the drop chutes at all times, and we have two full squadrons of Thunderbolts, which as you know are replacing most of the older model Starfuries. "

"And the forth squadron," his captain prodded.

Alister grinned, having just spent much of yesterday eagerly examining the new model fighters that the Rasputin carried. "The last squadron are new experimental Lightning class fighters we have been given to test. They are an advanced variant of the Thunderbolt, dedicated two-seaters with a significantly increased payload. They are designed to compliment the Thunderbolts in battle, slower but with heavier weapons and an improved ground-assault capacity. I haven't flown one yet, but I hope to get the chance as soon as possible."

"I am sure you will Lt. Commander," Susan said with a smile, realising the love that Alister had for the fighters. She knew the same feeling, and was almost itching to get her hands on one of the new fighters as well, even though it was not really the captain's place to go flying off in a fighter, as she had told Sheridan several times during her time on Babylon 5.

"We can take a look at the new fighters as we go past," the Admiral said as he continued the tour, leading the small group across the flight deck. It was abandoned now, as none of the flight crew or the pilots were on board yet, all still awaiting the ship at Mars High, the main transfer station for anyone visiting the red planet. For the moment the flight deck was barren and empty, everything still packed away neatly. Susan could already imagine what it would look like once the flight crew took up residence.

Susan smiled as she remembered the Babylon 5 flight deck, with crates of parts scattered everywhere, and holoposters of the latest pin-ups, both male and female, stuck up in the pilot's ready rooms. Compared to the Babylon 5 flight bays the Rasputin's was small, but still impressive, especially with the artificial gravity. It was certainly a lot different from the Agamemnon, which had been the last destroyer she had visited. There the crew had been forced to float around the flight deck in zero-g, and all spare parts and tools were packed away when not in use, as any lose object could be a danger in combat.

The Admiral stopped to allow the Rasputin's new command crew time to examine the new fighters. Susan and the others had a quick look over, Alister ready to jump in and point out all the improvements over the Thunderbolts. The Lightings were stacked carefully along the port side of the flight deck, each secured to a large trolley that carried the shuttles from the landing bays up front, through the air locks and onto the flight deck. The rows of fighters sat quiet and silent in the bay, but all here could imagine what it would be like when operational, with fighter trolleys being rushed across the deck, and the ground crews running everywhere to repair and rearm their assigned fighters.

The Admiral quickly pointed out the rest of the features of the flight deck to Susan, before leading them back to the fast transport system. "Right, come on all, let's get down to the stern and have a look at what makes this ship tick."

Susan looked over at Commander Petrov who was watching the retreating Admiral with a raised eyebrow. He caught Susan watching him and shrugged helplessly. Kiernan certainly wasn't what they usually expected in an Earthforce Admiral, he was likeable for a start. She returned Petrov's shrug with one of her own and they all rushed after the Admiral, who was already in the transporter waiting for them.

As soon as all were inside, the door slid shut and the transport began its almost frictionless glide down the tube to the far end of the ship. It took several seconds of travel to reach engineering, nearly a full thousand metres stern of the flight bays and as the doors slid open again and the Admiral led them out into the spacious engineering section. They were on what appeared to Susan to be the main deck of engineering. Rising up from the centre of the room was a large collection of piping, and cables, which were probably the fuel pipes and power cabling that fed the rest of the ship. This section of the ship was very busy, not empty like the flight deck had been and she could see the engineering staff moving around the various system, checking to make sure they were ready for the Rasputin's departure.

Admiral Kiernan quickly took up his commentary again, sounding more like a tour guide than a fleet Admiral did. "Well here we are in what most consider the heart of the ship, engineering. You see those pressure doors over there; they each lead to one of the reactors, six in total. We are not quite at the stern yet. There are several hundred metres or so of fuel cells and engines out behind us yet. Most of this is Dr. Kozlowski's work, so talk to him if you want an explanation, although if you are like me you won't understand most of what the man is saying."

The Admiral paused to catch his breath before continuing. "Most of the stern though is taken up by the engines, six Z-105 enhanced ion particle thrust engines made for us by Titan Engines Limited. Outwardly they are similar to the latest model Omega engines, but they have been enhanced with the new gravitic technology the Minbari were nice enough to give us. You should notice a significant increase in linear acceleration and turning speed. The Warlock destroyers also have an improved overall power output, roughly three times what the Omega's put out, although much of that is taken up by the AG systems of course."

"How much of the ship does engineering take up," Commander Petrov asked. "I still haven't had a good look around yet. I have been running through crew rosters for the past week."

"Around half," Dr Taylor spoke up from the back of the small group. Petrov looked at her in surprise, as she had only arrived yesterday day from Io, with Dreyer and Schmitt, and as far as he knew had not had time to even see the ship yet. She looked faintly embarrassed for a second at the attention. "I asked Philip Moore last night when he came aboard from the station after meeting the Captain."

"Indeed," the Admiral agreed. "Much the same as the Omega's, around half the ship is devoted to the engines, reactors and fuel cells. There are some crew quarters for the engineering staff back here as well though, just as there are bunks for the flight crews up in the bow. Unlike the older models, where the crew were mainly confined to the rotating habitat section, the new artificial gravity systems have allowed us to scatter the crew quarters across the ship. Basically it means that everyone can get to where they need to be a lot faster."

"Sound like a good idea to me," Susan said. The rest of the command staff quickly agreed with her, at the same time glancing around the massive room that comprised main engineering. Susan realised that although it was nowhere near as large as grey sector on Babylon 5, it was still very impressive. After all this was a warship, not a massive space station. However, any further examination was cut short as Admiral Kiernan guided them back towards the transporter.

* * *

By the time they had returned to the centre of the warship, Philip Moore was waiting for them. He smiled and said, "looks like I finally caught up with you." He then turned to the Admiral. "Roger, Kozlowski said he wanted to speak with you about work on the third destroyer while he is away. I can guide the captain around the rest of the ship if you like."

The Admiral nodded. "All right Philip, I will go and see what he wants now. I will see you all in the shuttle bay shortly. Lt. Commander Moore here knows most of the ship better than me though, and has worked on it for nearly two years now, so I will leave you in his capable hands."

He executed a quick salute, which the Captain and her crew returned and then he entered the lift, leaving them with the chief engineer. Philip went over to the rest of his new shipmates. "Well what do you think of the Admiral quite the character when he has had a little too much champagne isn't he."

"Yes," Susan agreed. "He certainly is somewhat ... eccentric."

Philip laughed at that, a couple of the others also joining in. "That's probably why he got this command. Apparently, Earth Central didn't really like the way he ran things so to get rid of him they posted him out here to Neptune-Beta. Even with the jumpgate, it is a remote posting, but he has been good for the project and made sure all the resources he could muster were sent here. I am not sure if Earthdome realises exactly how much has been spent on this project yet. When they do they will probably want to shut us down, these ships are not cheap to make, even considering we grow the hulls from silicon rather than shipping in armour plating."

Vincent Dreyer was a little surprised by the mention of growing the hull and asked, "What do you mean by that. How can you grow a hull?"

Philip looked at the gunnery officer. "Well we use a new organic compound that we grow over on one of the construction platforms. I don't think you can see it from here, but it is over past the prototype Warlock. The hull is effectively a silicon-based life form that feeds off electrical energy or sunlight. If you saw the Warlock earlier you would have seen what it looked like, the entire hull of that ship is made of the stuff. It works quite well actually, and provides much better protection than the old hull plating. When struck by energy based weapons, this new plating distributes the energy across a whole section of the hull, instead of just where weapon strikes. It makes it a lot harder to penetrate, reducing the damage potential of most low yield weapons considerably."

"Perhaps you can show us the rest of the ship now," Susan said, a strange tone in her voice. Philip looked at carefully for a moment before agreeing, remembering the discussion he had with the Captain the previous evening.

"Of course Captain, there is plenty of time to talk about the ship's design later. What has the Admiral shown you so far?"

Susan quickly listed all the sections of the ship they had seen so far. "The fighter bays, the computer core, and main engineering."

Phillip paused near the lift for a moment, obviously considering where to lead the small party. Finally, he point down the passage leading towards the stern. "The ship's Medlab is located just down that corridor, nice and close to the main lifts. We have tried to equip it with all the latest equipment, but you know how things are these days, they are always developing something new. Amanda, I believe you have had a good look over it?"

The blonde doctor nodded at his question. "I spent several hours there last night while we were all trapped up here. I had a good look around, and everything seems to be up to date. It is a lot better than what we had my old ship anyway."

"Glad to hear it. Anyway, apart from the computer core, Medlab is probably the only important facility on these decks, the rest is set aside for crew quarters, the galley, recreation facilities and the like. You might want to all spend some time getting used to the new layout, as it does differ significantly when compared to the older model destroyers. We might as well head up to the main bridge and the command quarters. Most of you would have already seen yours, but the Captain hasn't yet."

"And if you don't like them Captain you can always swap with me." Amanda Taylor joked. "We had a quick look last night, and lets just say that they are treating you very well indeed, not that there is anything wrong with ours of course."

Philip laughed. "No nothing wrong with them at all, the designers have really spared no expense or space for the command crew, one of the legacies of the Clark regime. I imagine changes will be made to latter production models, but you are all lucky enough to get the full luxury treatment."

"I guess I should feel honoured then," Susan said.

"We all should," said Alister Schmitt with a pointed glance at his Captain. "After all this is the new flagship, and only the best are getting to serve on her."

"Well we will see how things turn out," Commander Petrov said softly. "I have had a look at the crew lists and we look like getting some of the very best, especially the ace pilots coming on board to test those new fighters. I will show you the list later, but I think the Captain might like to have a look at her bridge first."

"Good idea," agreed Philip. "This way everyone."

He led them into the lift, ordering it up to the command deck. Once there he pointed out a door to Susan. "That way leads to your office, and then onto your quarters. Your quarters are the only one located on this level, the rest of the command crew's room are on the level directly below. We are close to the top of the ship, but the hull is reinforced along this entire section and we are directly beneath the main interceptor batteries, so this is actually one of the best protected sections on the whole ship."

Philip then led them down a corridor that curved towards the starboard side of the ship. Susan also noticed a similar passage that went the towards the port side. Soon, he stopped outside a large set of pressure doors and inserted his passcard into the reader. The doors slid open and exposed the large bridge area. It was empty for the moment, with all those who would normally be here either busy elsewhere or gathered around her and Philip. The bridge was large, even larger than C&C on Babylon 5. There was a raised platform in the centre, which she guessed must be the commanding officers station. A padded chair and two semi-circular computer consoles sat on it, right in the middle of the bridge. On the far side of the bridge was another door, which Susan guessed led to the other passage she had noticed earlier. The platform with the commander's chair also led across to this door, while stairs on either side of each door allowed access to the lower pits where all the main computers and consoles were fixed into the floor.

Philip move down into the stern facing pit and quickly tapped a few commands out on a fairly standard looking keyboard set into one of the consoles. Then he looked up at Susan who had gone to examine the Captain's station. "Well, here we have the bridge, designed with all the latest systems to keep this ship running smoothly. Everything, including all the turret weapons can be run from here if necessary, although obviously each section is also capable of operating independent of each other to ensure maximum survivability in combat. Standard bridge crew is twelve, plus the Captain, or who ever is in command at the time."

Philip paused and looked at Alister Schmitt and Vincent Dreyer who were busy examining one of the consoles. "You two might be more interested in the systems over the other side, that is where weapons and fighter tactical are. Of course you don't have to be here all the time, but you will find that those stations best allow you to keep an eye on everything at once."

He looked up at the Captain a slightly devious grin on his face. "What do you think so far Captain."

Susan slowly sat down in her chair to get a feel for her new station. It quickly moulded itself to her body and felt very comfortable. She looked up at the chief engineer and returned his grin. "Very nice, I think I could really get used to this."

Philip's grin grew even wider as he said, "well you might like this then, a little something R&D has come up with. It is going to be standard soon, but for now this is one of only two ships that have it.

He turned away for a second and tapped a final key on console beside him. Above, the ceiling suddenly flared with light as what had appeared to be normal black tiles disappeared and they were quickly replaced by a view of the space around the ship. The outside of the ship, the research station, and even a shuttle traversing the space between the two were all now displayed by a massive holographic display.

Philip moved up the stairs to stand by the Captain while they all looked on amazed. "Something special isn't it," he said.

"Amazing," Susan said, her breath taken away by the magnificent sight. "Where the hell did you get this, it is even better than the Minbari system.

"They pulled it out of the wreckage of a Centauri battle cruiser a couple of years back. The very same one that was knocked out by the defence grid on Babylon 5, at your Captain's orders I should add. Apparently the Centauri were not interested in cleaning up or salvaging the wreckage, so our R&D boys went and took a look and managed to piece together several of the systems from the cruiser's bridge. We would have loved to salvage their engines, but the systems we took from the bridge still helped us significantly and eventually gave us this new display. If there is one thing the Centauri make well it is their holographic systems. They apparently used holos on their bridge to show space around their vessel, and we managed to copy the main holographic projection system."

"How does it work," Alister asked, amazed at the detail of the image they were looking at.

Philip tapped out a couple of commands on the Captain's console and altered the view, this time showing the region of space beneath the Rasputin. Their view almost seemed to come from that bay itself, and the detail was quite amazing.

Philip smiled at the way everyone was staring and said. "Well it is a lot easier than it looks. I am surprised they didn't come up with something like this before. I don't know if any of you have seen the Centauri holographic systems before, but they can create free standing images with almost no flickering at all, all with a small device no bigger than your links. They are considerably more advanced than our current systems that require one of those players that are all the rage back home. Earth technology is getting better, but I don't think it will catch up with the Centauri for a while, at least not civilian technology."

He paused for a moment to catch his breath before continuing. "Well we use a copy of their holo projectors, mounted into the ceiling above you and all linked to a central computer that keeps them aligned. Then along the hull we have put in a series of cameras, those new wide angle ones that ISN and the other vid networks are starting to use. You have probably seen something similar on some of the more modern stations, Babylon 5 for example."

He looked at Susan as he said this and she nodded. "Yes we had them on B5, although there they were only linked to the display screens, we didn't have anything like this."

Philip continued. "Well what we have done is link all the cameras into the computer running this display and it filters the images correctly and allows it to appear as though you were standing on the hull looking out. It works fairly well, you can even zoom in on different locations, although that is a little limited as it can only display what the cameras can see."

"Why bother though," Petrov asked. "The old display boards did much the same job."

Philip shrugged at his comments. "Something to do with crew behaviour I was told. I heard the system's designer saying that a study had determined that a warship's crew would work better if they could actually see their opponents. I quite like it really, you can overlay the display with almost anything you like as well, and so if there is an enemy ship on screen the tracking computer can display information about it. It everything together for you to see at once, and makes it a little easier to keep an eye on things."

On the screen they could see the shuttle approaching fire it braking thrusters and begin to slow, ready to dock with the Rasputin. Susan saw this and commented on it, "I guess that must be the shuttle bring the ISN crew aboard."

The others turned watch as its thrusters fired, slowing it down ready to dock with the destroyer. Philip nodded, "yes that is the Admiral's personal shuttle, he must have sent it to collect them. Well, we had best get going then. The rest of you might like to head down to the hanger bay, the Admiral wants to have another little ceremony and introduce you all to the crew. Captain, I will just give you a quick look at your quarters and we shall join them."

Susan nodded and they all filed out of the bridge, most of them heading towards the lifts to the lower floors, while Susan and Philip continued on past the lifts and went though the door leading into her quarters. The first room they came to was her office, looking somewhat spartan with only an unadorned desk and four chairs taking up space. Beyond the office was another door, the one leading in her personal quarters. She stood waiting for him to open it, before remembering that Admiral Kiernan had tossed her the passcard before. Slightly embarrassed she slid the card into the lock and the door slide open, smoothly and without a sound. Stepping inside, Susan walked around the packing crates on the floor, the same ones she had bought with her from Babylon 5, as well as the package John Sheridan had sent her and had her first glimpse at what was to be her new home, at least for the next year or so.

It was a lot bigger than her old quarters on Babylon 5, even larger than John's, with five rooms instead of the three she had been content with back on Babylon 5. The first of these was the lounge room and like her office, it had been left unadorned with only basic furniture. Then in the walls of the lounge room there were three sliding doors, much like those in her old quarters. One led into a storeroom, which was completely empty, while the next led into a small kitchen and bar, and last into a spacious bedroom. She moved through into the bedroom and took note of another door, which likely led in the bathroom cubicle.

Philip moved into the room after her. "Well do you like it Captain," he asked.

"It is certainly larger than I expected," she replied, examining the bed with a somewhat suspicious eye, wondering for what purpose the designers had put in such a large one. "I thought space would be limited on a warship, but this is even better than my quarters on Babylon 5."

Philip laughed. "Not bad are they. All of the command quarters are impressive, I guess they are one of the good things to come out of Clark's rule."

"How do you mean?"

"Well these vessels were designed for those officers still loyal to Clark, so he order extra space be made available for command staff, and this is the result. We even have real water showers up here, and extra large water tanks down on deck eight to keep them running. Ah, and have a look at this, this is one of the best improvements of all."

He crossed to the far end of the bedroom and pressed a small control almost hidden on the wall. Suddenly the entire section of the wall over the bed became opaque, allowing a view down across the front of ship, all the way to the bow. Lights from the construction platform all around them played off the silver hull of the warship and for a moment Susan was caught by the beauty of the view.

"How do they do this?" she asked.

Philip pressed the control again and view of the front section of the warship faded. "A similar system to the one on the bridge, only with a lot less power. All of the cabins that border the sides of the ship have these, even the on the crew deck below. They are linked into a single camera for each, set into the hull plating outside. Then you have a low power holo display set into the wall here. The whole thing uses less power than most vid systems, and we do carry replacement cameras in case the hull is damaged."

"It looks great," Susan said. "I trust though no-one can look in from the outside."

Philip laughed at that, and even the normally dour, and slightly sad looking Captain smiled, his friendly nature finally getting the better of her. "Don't worry Captain," he said with a wink. "It is all strictly one way only."

"Good," she said firmly, before walking across the room to have a quick look into her shower.

"How many crew members have quarters on the deck below," she asked as she came back into the bedroom where Philip was waiting.

"Just the command staff and a couple of guest rooms. Counting your quarters there are nine in total, the rest of the room on these two decks is taken up by the bridge, the computer rooms, officer's mess, and the rest of the command facilities."

Susan bent down to glance under the bed, noticing that there were drawers of some kind built down there. "Wouldn't that make it more of a target though?"

The engineer shook his head. "I wouldn't worry about that. Not only would the attack have to be familiar with the layout of the ship to know where to hit, but also this section of the vessel has a hull twice as thick as on the rest of the ship.

"Well it makes me feel a little bit safer," Susan said, looking at her crates, not really looking forward to unpacking them.

"It is supposed to," Philip said, checking his link to see what the time was. "We should get going anyway, the Admiral might be wondering what is keeping us."

"Lead on chief," she said, inviting him to leave first. He took up the invitation and left her quarters, Susan in close pursuit. Pausing at the doorway, she looked back for a moment, already thinking about what she could do to bring some warmth to the room. This on her mind she turned away from her door and followed Philip out of the Captain's office and towards the lift.

As she walked out of her quarter, she realised that much of her apprehension about taking command was gone, and she wasn't even concerned about the ISN crew any more, although the Shadow technology that appeared to be hidden throughout her vessel still bothered her. She knew at that moment that her decision to leave Babylon 5 was the right one. Now she had her new life, a new crew, and possibly even new friends and with any luck the bad memories she had from her time of Babylon 5 would fade and she would have only the good to remember from her time there. Straightening her uniform, Susan allowed a slight spring come into her walk as she entered the lift to the lower decks.

* * *


	5. Chapter 5

* * *

Susan rubbed the bridge of her nose wearily, thankful that Admiral Kiernan appeared to be ready to leave and he was taking the reporters with him. It had been a tiring two hours as she had sat through another round of speeches that the Admiral had insisted on giving, before finally being dragged up in front of the assembled crew and reporters and asked to give a speech welcoming them all on board. Still it could have been worse. At least her new crew seemed to accept her words of welcome.

She had kept her speech short as possible, always aware of the ISN recorders swarming above her, probably relaying every word to the interstellar news network's vast human and alien audience. Still they were leaving now, already the ISN crew had packed away their recorders and now they were dismantling the heavy monitors and other equipment they had been allowed to being aboard. Soon they would be gone and she could get on with running her ship the way she wanted, and that would mean no more interviews, in fact no more reporters full stop.

Susan wanted to get out of here now, and up on to the bridge where she would be in her element. Commanding a starship had long been her dream job, and her experience running C&C on Babylon 5 had only heightened that desire. Now she had her chance, and she wanted to make the most of it, as long as she could make it through this day. She had not slept well last night at all, the nightmares that had been her constant companions ever since Marcus had died had made her sleep restless and left her tired and grumpy in the morning. Now after an entire morning of speeches by Admiral Kiernan, and questions for the ISN reporters she felt exhausted, and it was not even midday yet.

Susan became aware of someone approaching her, and turned to greet the Admiral as he walked up in the company of Commander Petrov, and the rest of her command staff. "Captain," Kiernan said warmly, gabbing her hand and shaking it vigorously. "Congratulations again on your new command, you must be very pleased."

"Yes I am Admiral," Susan answered, managing to disengage her hand from Kiernan's clutches. "It is a fine ship and I look forward to serving in her."

"Good, good. I trust Philip showed you the bridge and the rest of the ship as I asked."

Susan nodded, "yes he did Admiral, I was most impressed. Some of the new upgrades in the bridge are better than anything I could have hoped for."

Admiral Kiernan nodded and then took Susan by the arm, guiding her away from the rest of the group so they might speak in private. "Yes they are Captain, but that is not what makes a good ship. Just to warn you, there are likely to still be some problems to iron out, which is why I'm sending Kozlowski with you. I'm afraid that Earth Central has really been pushing us to get the Warlock class ready for action, and although I understand their reasons, I would have preferred at least another month or two to run some more tests on some of the more advanced upgrades. This is one of the reasons why I was so pleased when Earthforce finally agreed to let you command the Rasputin, we need someone experienced with new technology in command."

Susan looked a little concerned as the Admiral spoke, but he quickly moved to reassure her. "That's not to mean that anything is likely to go wrong. We have tested everything as fully as we can, but you do remember what happened to the first of the Omega class. Of course, we have learned a lot since then, but despite all the testing, we can never hope to fully emulate battle conditions."

"I certainly hope so Admiral, I wouldn't want the reactors to fail the first time I went into hyperspace like they did on the Omega."

"Yes a sad end to a ship that was," Kiernan said. "A real pity, but the later Omega class destroyers have been the mainstay of Earthforce for more than a decade, so it was hardly a failure." The Admiral turned and smiled at her, "but of course, with Earthforce's finest captain in charge we shouldn't have too many problems."

Susan blushed slightly at his praise. "I would hardly consider myself the best Captain in the fleet. The newest perhaps, but not the best."

Kiernan snorted. "Nonsense Susan, you don't think Earthforce would give you this ship if they didn't think you were up to the job. Despite your recent activities, they are still very impressed with you. If you work within the rules this time, I can see you rising high in the ranks. You are still young, a lot younger than most of the fleet captains and you have a very good future ahead if you play your cards right."

"I will do my best Admiral," Susan said, pleased with the praise he had given her.

"You do that Captain. Anyway, I had best get back my shuttle. I don't want to be late for lunch now do I." Kiernan smiled at her, and grasped her hand once more, in a gesture of friendship and congratulations. "Now you take care of yourself Captain, and try to keep this ship in one piece. She is the only one in the fleet, and I would hate to see anything happen to her, or her captain, especially as the senate is about to discuss changes to our budget."

Susan nodded, and with a final squeeze of her hand the Admiral pulled away and saluted her sharply, a gesture she returned in kind. Then with a nod towards her command staff, he strode across the shuttle deck and boarded his personal shuttle. Before he entered, though he paused and looked back at the gathered crewmembers for a moment before saluting them all and entering his shuttle.

With its final passenger on board, the shuttle's doors were closed, and crew from the Rasputin dragged away the ladder that had been used by the shuttle. From the roof, huge magnetic clamps dropped onto the corners of the shuttle and dragged it smoothly off the deck and across the shuttle bay to the massive airlocks that led out into space. Susan could see the shuttle pilot waving jauntily at them from the cockpit, but resisted the compulsion to wave back, instead standing calmly next to her command staff as the shuttle was loaded into the airlock.

Then as the large pressure doors slid shut with only the faintest whisper of noise she turned back to her staff. In a weary voice she said, "well that is finally over. Lt-Commander's Dreyer and Schmitt, perhaps you would like to dismiss the crew and we can get this ship under way."

The two officers quickly saluted her and went to speak to the crew who had been gathered in the shuttle bay to listen to the Admiral's speeches. As the crew began to slowly drift back towards their duty stations in small groups, Susan realised just how different this posting was going to be compared to Babylon 5. Back on the station she had had five thousand Earthforce personal and many more civilians under her command, and here on the Rasputin she currently only had a small skeleton crew of just under three hundred, all that were deemed necessary for the short flight to Mars. That number would rise once they reached Mars, but even at full strength, the Rasputin's crew would be tiny compared to Babylon 5. As she waited for her two senior officers to return, she wondered how she would adapt.

Most of the crew were gone now, taking the lifts and stairs up or down to their various stations. Only the few crewmembers needed to clear the shuttle bay, and move the Rasputin's second shuttle back into position remained. The large Phoenix class shuttle had been moved earlier to allow the Admiral's smaller shuttle to come aboard and now they need to move it back so it would be in position to be used once they arrived at Mars. As the crew busied themselves with this task, Alister Schmitt and Vincent Dreyer returned to join to the Captain.

"Captain," Alister asked before Susan could speak. "I was wondering if you would allow us both some time to familiarise ourselves with our sections. While we've been aboard longer than you, neither of us have had much of a chance to look over our systems yet, and we need to be familiar with them if we are going to be ready when the rest of the crew comes on board. You don't really need us up on the bridge do you?"

Susan looked over at Commander Petrov who shook his head at her before saying, "I don't see why not Captain."

"Very well then," Susan said as she turned back to face to other two officers. "Take as much time as you need. I don't think I will need you for a while. Just try not to break anything or you will be getting the bill."

They thanked her and hustled off towards the freight lift at the other end of the shuttle bay. The larger lift was designed to move crates of spare parts and even entire Starfuries from the shuttle deck to the repair bay below the flight deck, and was a much more direct route than the lifts near where Susan and Petrov were standing.

Susan looked around her, and noticed that the rest of other command staff appeared to have vanished as well. She could see Philip Moore off in the distance, chatting with the crew about to move the shuttle, but there was no sign of either Amanda Taylor or Dr Kozlowski, in fact she realised that the scientist had been missing for some time, although she hadn't noticed his absence until now.

"Anything you need me to do Captain," her executive officer asked.

Susan frowned as she thought for a moment before responding. "Not really Commander, but I would like you to check that the repairs to the artificial gravity system are complete. I know everything was supposed to be finished up last night, I would prefer if I had confirmation. I will go up to the bridge and see if I can't sort out how to start the engines. You can join me before we depart."

"Ok Captain," Petrov agreed. "I will meet you on the bridge later then. I will bring up the crew lists as well, you might want to take a look at them."

"Good Idea Commander," Susan said as she pressed the button to summon the lift. "I should get some free time before we get to Mars to have a quick look over them."

The lift doors slid open and after a quick exchange of salutes with her executive officer, Susan backed into the lift and quickly informed the computer of the required level.

* * *

As the lift doors closed, Susan suddenly became aware of Dr Nathan Kozlowski sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of an open panel close to the floor of the lift. She couldn't see what he was doing from where she was standing, but noticed that he appeared to be working on some sort of control mechanism, with the slight glow of a fibrous power cable visible through the open panel. Before she could ask him what he was doing the lift began moving upward, but she quickly realised that something was terribly wrong. The lift was making a lot of noise as it moved, and there was a faint scraping sound of metal on metal.

Then the lift jerked violently and with the hideous sound of screeching metal came to a sudden and violent stop, throwing Susan and Kozlowski to the floor. As she picked herself up Susan felt fear rising inside her, and the colour began to drain from her face. She knew that the modern lift systems did not have any cables holding them up, rather they relied on magnetic levitation, and if that failed then only the emergency braking systems could stop them from falling to a rather messy death at the bottom of the lift shaft.

Bracing herself carefully against the panelled wall, she looked towards Kozlowski and the open wall panel where he had been working. The doctor had also climbed back to his feet and was now poking around inside the panel once more, muttering to himself as he worked. "What did you do Doctor," Susan managed to ask; amazed that he could be so calm when the lift could fall at any time. She soon felt her anger rising as she began to realise that the lift seemed stable for now and that Dr Kozlowski had been responsible for the problem, whatever it was.

Kozlowski didn't even look up at her words, and did not seem to notice either the fear or accusation in her voice. "Hmm, won't be a minute Captain. I am just adjusting the speed a little. When I was in the lift this morning it was very slow, so I though it needed a little adjusting. Nothing to worry about, I will be finished in a moment or two."

Susan slowly pulled herself away from the wall, breathing a little calmer now. Her eyes bored holes into the white-coated back of the scientist, now more annoyed than worried. "Well do you think you can do it later," she asked, her voice betraying her annoyance. "I don't want to be stuck here, I need to get to the bridge. I do have a ship have a ship to run after all."

"Won't be a minute Captain," the doctor muttered as he carefully inserted a thin metal rod into the open panel and began to lever at something hidden from Susan's eyes. "I just have to remove the safety protocols and make some minor adjustments."

"What?" Susan yelled at him as she reached out to try to stop Kozlowski before he did anything dangerous. She was too late though and the lift jerked again. Then she felt herself almost lifted off the floor towards the ceiling as the lift threw itself towards the bottom of the shaft at a speed it was never meant to reach.

'I am going to die,' Susan thought, or she would have thought if she had taken the time to think. She didn't even have time to scream though as the lift came to another sudden halt and she fell solidly against the floor. She landed with a painful thud on the metal floor, before rolling into a corner with pain shooting through her leg, and a throbbing headache. As she lay on the floor she realised that the emergency braking system must have activated and as full awareness returned she could smell the acrid taint of burnt metal and plastic coming in from outside the lift car.

Her leg still felt painful, but the sharp pains she had felt at first were already beginning to fade so she hoped she had escaped major injury. She rolled over onto her back and began to feel along her leg to see if she could discover anything broken. Finding nothing, she pulled herself up so her back was resting against the wall and looked across to where she had last seen Kozlowski.

He was sitting where he had been when she first entered the lift and despite the spots of blood she could see on the floor, he did not seem that perturbed by what had happened and continued with his work. As he worked, she could hear him muttering, "that was a little too quick I think. Now if I just make a minor adjustment it should be fine."

Before Susan could get up and strangle him though the doors opened from the outside and a concerned looking Commander Petrov rushed into the lift, followed by two of her crew. Seeing his Captain lying on the floor he rushed to her side and helped her up to her feet. She accepted his help, but winced slightly as she put weight on her injured leg. It was the same leg she had injured once before but fortunately it did not seem too bad and after testing it a couple of times found she could walk, although she might have a slight limp for a day or two.

Resting with her arm around the Commander's shoulders Susan suddenly noticed that Kozlowski was still working in the open control panel and with a strangled gasp she threw off Petrov's support and ran to drag the scientist away before he could cause any more trouble. Grabbing him by the collar, she dragged him bodily out of the lift and threw him out into the shuttle bay, right into the arms of a rather surprised Phillip Moore who was just arriving to see what the fuss was.

One look at the still furious Captain he quickly pushed the startled doctor behind him. "Um I am not sure killing him would be a good idea Captain," he said calmly. "We still need him."

Susan closed her eyes for a minute to recover her composure before responding. "No probably not. But if I ever catch him messing with the lift with me in it again I will toss him into an airlock and open the outer doors personally. Get someone who knows what they are doing to fix it, I am going to take the stairs."

"I will look after it personally Captain," the chief engineer said as Susan stormed off, her anger driving away any pain that she was feeling. Commander Petrov stepped carefully out of the lift, noticing the burning smell that seemed to be hanging around it, and decided he didn't really want to be standing in a lift car that could easily continue its fall if the brakes broke away.

The doctor pulled himself to his feet, brushed off his white coat and flatted out what hair he had left. A little confused he looked somewhat embarrassed by what had happened. "I don't understand what happened. It should have been fine. Still no-one was injured and the emergency braking system worked fine."

Philip shook his head in amazement. "I am not sure the Captain would agree Nathan. I don't think nearly killing her is going to make her like you very much at all."

Kozlowski shook his head, not really understanding what the Captain's concern was. "But what was she doing in the lift. She started it up when I was trying to work on it. Fortunately, I was able to stop it in time; otherwise, we could have both been killed. I was only trying to improve the lift, as I told you yesterday they are not working as well as they could."

"I will get someone to look at it Nathan," Philip sighed. He passed a critical eye over the scientist and noticed that he was bleeding profusely from his nose, which was probably broken. "Why don't you go down to Medlab and get the doc to patch up that nose of yours. We can't have you leaking blood all over the place; it might cause a short circuit in one of the systems. Then when she fixes you can up head down to engineering and help Lieutenant Eades with the tests on the reactors. We are about to leave for earth so you might want to keep an eye on the power levels, I noticed some fluxuations a couple of days ago that might need investigating."

Kozlowski's nodded slowly, feeling his face and finding blood flowing down from his nose. He carefully wiped it away with a rag he dragged out of a pocket. Then to the amazement of the two officers he went back into the lift and began to work on the control panel again. Taking only a few seconds to finish what he had started he picked up his tools he put them away carefully in a leather pouch, which he slipped into his pants pocket. Then with that done he closed up the panel and said with an air of confidence, "Lift, deck 5."

To the surprise of Petrov and Philip, the door closed and the lift rose smoothly upwards towards the main deck. Only the now faint smell of burnt plastic and melted metal remained to show that anything had happened at all. Philip wasn't going to take any chances though so tapped his link and spoke to the ship's main computer, ordering it to shut down lift one until further notice.

"Is he usually like that," Petrov asked, more than a little concerned about the narrow escape Captain Ivanova had just had. "I don't think the Captain sounded very happy at all, and I don't really blame her."

Philip sighed helplessly, "I am afraid so. Kozlowski usually doesn't leave the research station much. He has been there for nearly six years now, most of that time working on the Warlock destroyers. He was always replacing and altering things as he notices problems, without informing anyone. I will have to talk with him and tell him that he can't do that on an operational warship, or that the very least inform the central computer what he is going to be working on."

"That might be best Lt-Commander," Petrov said, eyeing the now closed lift doors with some suspicion. "Send someone from maintenance to do a complete check on this lift as well. I don't know what he did, but I want to make sure it is fixed before anyone else uses it."

Philip nodded in agreement, realising that the precaution was probably necessary, despite the fact that the doctor had likely done a perfect job on the repairs as usual. He quickly turned to the small group of crew members that gathered around to see what was happening and ordered them to get together a repair crew to check out the entire lift system.

"That should keep them busy for a while," Petrov said. "Well shall we get up to deck 8. The captain asked me to check and make sure the repairs that were done there last night were complete."

Philip nodded his agreement and the two officers headed towards the stairs on the far side of the shuttle hanger, both still not willing to trust the lifts.

* * *


	6. Chapter 6

* * *

Carefully easing herself into the captain's chair Susan turned to face the bow, grateful she could finally take the weight off her still sore leg. The ship's doctor, Amanda Taylor, had checked her over carefully, and reported that despite a small strain it was not badly injured. Dr Taylor had then advised her to rest up for a while and not take the stairs if possible. When Susan had told Amanda that she didn't really feel like taking the lifts the doctor had only laughed, and told her instead to only take lifts that were not being worked on by Kozlowski at the time.

She now felt a little annoyed with herself, after letting her temper get the better of her and for blaming Kozlowski for the accident. She should have checked first before activating the lift. Had she known that he was working on it, she would have taken the other one instead or maybe the stairs. She felt a little embarrassed that she had let herself become that angry and when the doctor had come into Medlab she had apologised to him. Fortunately, he had forgiven her, and even claimed it was his fault and he should have informed the central computer that he was working on the lift so it could have been shut down. Susan was hopeful that there would be no further mishaps like this on in the future.

She rubbed the painful section of her leg to try to work some of the stiffness out of it. Dr Taylor had given her a painkiller so she could still walk around, but her leg still felt a little uncomfortable. Ignoring the distraction of her injured leg for now, Susan tapped the control to activate the viewscreen, anxious to get under way sometime today. After flickering once, the holographic screen lit, showing her a view of space around the Rasputin's bridge. She could see the flare of he thrusters on the Admiral's shuttle retreating into the distance, almost about to dock with the research station. The construction dock around them, which had been dark and lifeless this morning, was now lit up brightly, and Susan could see several large spotlights shining down on the girders, pointing out the location of the massive arms of metal.

The bridge was also now busy with noise and action as members of her new crew scuttled about making pre-flight checks and starting up various systems. She was still not familiar with any of the control systems, except the viewscreen which Philip Moore had been kind enough to explain to her as they had gone back down to the shuttle bay earlier. Still her crew, all of them having been trained at the research station seemed to know what they were doing.

Looking down Susan recognised what looked like a communication console, with a very pretty, red-haired lieutenant in charge. "Lieutenant," she asked, making the young woman jump slightly at being addressed. "Are we cleared to depart yet?"

The lieutenant quickly scanned her console before replying. "Yes Captain, Neptune-Beta flight control is giving us a green light for departure. Admiral Kiernan's shuttle is currently docking with the station and there is no more traffic is registering on my screens. Flight control reports our immediate flight path is clear of all civilian and military traffic and they are advising that we can depart when ever we wish."

"Good," Susan said, as she leaned back in her chair. "With all these ceremonies and speeches we seem to have missed lunch and I want to be on our way to Mars as soon as possible so we can all get something to eat. Is everything secure on board, no loose shuttles or errant doctors making final adjustments to our systems?"

The young communications officer glanced across the room at another of the bridge crew who shook his head. She then turned back to Susan and said, "Everything reads as secure, Captain, we can depart on your orders."

Susan nodded and turned her chair back towards the front of the ship, addressing the helmsman. "Helm set course for the local Jumpgate. Keep it slow for now though, we can expect a fair amount of civilian traffic out there, and we don't want to hit anything on our first voyage."

"Yes Sir," came the low voice of the Rasputin's helmsman. "Directing main power to the engines now, all system are operating within parameters and fuel injection is go."

Far behind them, the fuel valves on the six huge engines opened and the ionised hydrogen fuel began to flood in to the ignition chambers. Even on the bridge, over five hundred metres in front of the engines Susan could feel a faint shudder run the length of the ship as they ignited. Then, ever so slowly the massive warship began to move forward, sliding out of dock. It was slow at first, but ever increasing in speed as it began to clear its moorings. Despite their incredible power, on the bridge there was little sign that the engines were operating apart from the movement that could be seen on the holographic viewscreen, and a very faint vibration in the railing around the Captain's station. With the viewscreen operational though, it was possible to see the vast girders that made up the construction dock slowly falling behind the ship as it picked up speed and left Neptune-Beta behind it.

"We have cleared the dock Captain," the helmsman reported. "Setting course for the Neptune Jumpgate now. Although if you don't mind me asking why aren't we using our own jump engines. It is a thirty-minute trip to the Jumpgate at this speed, if we went to hyperspace here we could save some time. Regulation do state that we are permitted to use our jump engines once we are outside near planetary orbit."

Susan scowled down at him, making note of the name on his uniform. "I don't think I need to be informed about regulations ensign Marino. Our orders from Earthforce are that we stick to the Jumpgate this time. After all we don't have a full crew on board yet, and we wouldn't want to see any accidents would we now?"

"No Sir," he responded, properly chastised. "I didn't mean to question you Captain, I was just trying to help out a little."

"I am pleased to hear that ensign," Susan said, a brief smile on her face at the eagerness of the ensign to please her. She realised that this was probably his first posting, but had no intention on making it easier for him, after all it hadn't been for her. "I think you should be concentrating on your console though, not chatting with me. I don't want us to smash up the ship during its first flight."

The helmsman quickly turned back to his computer, and tried to look busy. In truth the updated systems on the Rasputin could handle the flight quite easily and did not even need his supervision, but he wasn't about to tell the captain that. He had heard many stories from some of the other crew about Captain Ivanova, and how she was meant to be a real tyrant when it came those under her command. He didn't want to get on the wrong side of the Captain on the very first day of her command, or he was in for a rough time. Even now, he could feel her eyes on him, probably watching everything he was doing, and looking for any mistake.

Susan smiled faintly to herself at the ensign's discomfort, remembering how she had been when she had first signed up, a day that seemed almost another lifetime ago now. So much had happened in between, and despite the odd good memory, a lot of it hadn't been pleasant. 'It wasn't likely to get much better either,' she thought, with her typical pessimism. She tried to dismiss those thoughts though and concentrate on commanding her vessel. After all this was her new life, and there was no reason it had to be like it had in the past. All she had to do was stop herself falling in love again, either that or shoot anyone who showed any interest in her.

The portside door opened with a faint hiss as it released its pressure seals and the chief engineer walked in, carrying a small stack of papers. Susan spun her chair around to face him, and looked at him with a questioning glance. "You have something for me Lt-Commander?" she asked, at the same time eyeing the stack of paper suspiciously, hoping it wasn't anything that involved her, or the a pen he was holding. She had experienced more than her fair share of official paperwork back on Babylon 5 and wasn't keen to renew her acquaintance with that particular enemy.

"Just the crew lists from Commander Petrov," Philip replied, dropping the pile of documents down on her console. "He thought you might like to take a look at them while we were in hyperspace to Mars."

Susan shuffled through the papers, looking as though she wished that they would just crumple up and vanish. She sighed softly and looking up at the engineer said, "Tell the commander I will take a look later. Where is he by the way, I thought he would be up here on the bridge by now."

"He's headed down to engineer to see Dr Kozlowski," Philip answered. "I met him down on deck eight where we've been checking up on the status of the repairs. The commander said he was going to be a while longer and asked me to pass on the crew lists for him. I think he was a little concerned about what happened earlier."

Susan nodded remembering the way the Russian commander had rushed to her side when the lift doors had been forced open earlier. "Well that sounds like a good enough reason to me. I want him with me when we arrive at Mars though, so don't let him get lost down there."

"I won't Captain," the engineer said, a little distracted as he noticed something he hadn't seen when he first entered the bridge. He peered curiously at the viewscreen for a moment, noticing that the research station was already falling behind them, and that the ship seemed to be headed for the Neptune Jumpgate. "Um Captain why aren't we in hyperspace yet. Wouldn't it be quicker to use our jump engines instead of going all the way to the Jumpgate? It could save us around thirty minutes."

The Captain looked faintly embarrassed at that question, especially when the helmsman turned his face to look up at her. She narrowed her eyes and gave the young ensign a glare, which quickly had him furiously scanning the console in front of him, very busy all of a sudden. She turned back to Philip and said, "don't you remember Lt-Commander, Earthforce has asked us to use the Jumpgate instead of our generator."

Philip Moore looked confused for a moment, then seeing the message in her eyes, he suddenly realised what she was up to and let a wide smile light up his face. "Of course, I must have forgotten all about that Captain. I guess I have been too busy with last minute repairs and adjustments to read all the memos from Earth Central properly. Yes I remember quite clearly now that they said something about not using the jump engines. I don't remember exactly why though, but it was a good reason."

"Yes the memo," Susan said, pleased that Philip was as intelligent as he first appeared. "Earthforce decided that we didn't want to take unnecessary risks without a full crew on board to handle any repairs or sudden emergencies."

"Indeed, it is a good policy Captain," the engineer remarked, careful not to let his amusement show too much. "Anyway I had best get back down to the engineering and keep an eye on Kozlowski. We wouldn't want him to start pulling everything apart, would we now. I will relay your message to the commander."

"You do that Lt-Commander," Susan said, turning her chair to face the stern, where she could just see the incomplete superstructure of the third Warlock class destroyer being erected in its dock. It appeared to be months away from completion if she was any judge, but even from this distance, she could see movement along the hull as its construction continued at full speed.

Seeing the Captain's attention turn away from him Philip gave a quite salute and spun around on his toes, walking quickly towards the door. Just after it opened again and he was about to leave, he paused though and turned back to the Captain. "That small joystick on your left-hand console gives you precise control over the viewscreen zoom Captain. You should be able to get a good view if you zoom in closer, although I am not sure what the museum authorities will think of us, after all we are hardly your normal sort of tourist ship are we now."

Susan turned to glare at him in annoyance, but the chief engineer had already fled and the doors were closing behind him. She felt the eyes of the helmsman on her again and she glared back at him. "Ensign Marino, I thought I told you to keep an eye on the helm, not me. If you can't keep your eyes on your work I will have to think about replacing you with someone who can."

"Sorry Captain," he blurted out, quickly turning back to his console again. Around him, he could almost feel the amused smirks of some of the other bridge crew, before they too suddenly seemed found themselves occupied with their work as the captain turned to glare at them as well. It was not him they are smiling at though, but rather the Captain, realising from the chief engineer's words that he had deduced that she was only taking the Rasputin through the Jumpgate so she could pass by the museum on Triton as they exited the system. The museum, which was dedicated to the first meeting between Humanity and the Centauri, was supposed to a ship bring good luck. At least that was how the old stories went. Ensign Marino couldn't help but be a little surprised himself, not realising that Captain Ivanova had a sentimental side. Still it was good to know she was not the bloodthirsty tyrant the rumours he had heard had foretold.

Susan sighed in annoyance, realising that the crew knew why she was taking the Jumpgate now. She thought about ordering the jump engines online, but quickly dismissed that thought. Not only had she already told them it was not permitted, but also she would miss her one chance to see the museum, albeit only from space. All her life she had wanted to come to Neptune and visit the museum, but always something had stopped her from making the trip. Now here she was in a ship orbiting Neptune and she would be damned if she was going to give up the opportunity to see it, no matter what the crew thought of her. What Earthforce would think of the waste of thousands of credits of fuel needed to travel the extra distance though was another matter entirely; she could only hope no one told them.

Trying to look less guilty, she picked up the papers Philip had bought her and began to shuffle through them. As she did, the Rasputin finally cleared Neptune-Beta's sphere of influence and began to accelerate towards the Jumpgate. Touching the control to switch the viewscreen to display only the forward view, she watched as the dark sphere that was the planet Neptune began to move closer as the ensign Marino trimmed a few minutes off their flight time by cutting closer to the planet's gravity well. She examined his new route carefully, but soon realised that he was well within safety limits and regulations, so allowed his modification to the flight plan pass without comment this time.

Actually, she was very pleased with the young ensign so far. Not only had he shown initiative but he also questioned her orders. If she could make him respect her command a little more then he would make a fine officer in the future. He also seemed to be a damn good starship pilot, as not many would have thought of the short cut he had made, not even her, and she been at the controls of more than a few starships in the past couple of years.

She noticed the sun beginning to rise from behind the planet, nothing more than a bright star out this far, but a welcome sight after having spent the past day in the darkness behind Neptune. Then the lights from the gas mines came into view, shining brightly against the blackness of space. Finally, she could see the dark bulk of Triton high over Neptune and with it the lights of the Jumpgate and the ships waiting in high orbit for cargo or passengers. It was a beautiful sight, and one that reminded Susan yet again why she had remained with Earthforce after the Earth-Minbari war. This was only one planet, and there were many more out there to see. Worlds, alien civilisations, and hundreds of other wonders, all things she would never have seen if she had left Earthforce and stayed on Earth like her father had desired.

Susan watched the planet's atmosphere slide away below them for ten minutes, mesmerised by the swirling clouds of dark gas, lit only by the faint light from the sun, and the occasional small craft or gas mine that passed beneath them. She had never really taken the time to just sit and watch a planet from space like this before. Always she had been too busy watching instruments, or scanning space for enemy vessels. Now she could take the time to do so, and let someone else worry for her. Anyway, here above Neptune there was not likely to be anything in the way of raiders or other enemy vessels so she could spare the time at last to just sit, watch, and enjoy.

Then she noticed that their course looked like it was finally taking them above Triton, rather than below where the Museum was located so she quickly examined the viewscreen for an excuse for a quick course change. She noticed the large, unlit shapes of two JMC bulk tankers, here at Neptune to collect fuel from the private mines. They were close, but still well within safety range. 'Good enough,' she thought as she turned back to look down at ensign Marino. "Ensign, it looks like there are few civilian vessels between us and the gate. Perhaps it would be best if you directed our course below Triton, and away from those tankers. You never know what a civilian vessel is going to do, especially when they see a warship like this passing near them. We don't want an accident now do we."

"Already on it Captain," Marino responded, no trace of any argument at her request in his voice this time, and if anything there was an edge of excitement. "Just programming in the final changes now."

He quickly completed the calculations and typed them into the navigation computer, which accepted them and the Rasputin slowly changed course again, dipping down towards Neptune again. It was now flying just above the tops of the collection of giant needles that were the gas mines, and had slowed considerably, as the Rasputin now had to loop about Neptune's largest moon instead of flying straight above it. Susan sat back and tried to look interested in the crew lists, all the while peaking up occasionally to look at the gas giant slip beneath them, and Triton begin to grow large in the viewscreen. It was a losing battle though and the papers were soon sitting forgotten in her hands, as she craned her neck, looking for some sign of the vast mural that marked the location of the museum.

Just as the warship began to leave Neptune and move closer to Triton the door leading into the bridge opened again and this time it was Commander Petrov who entered the bridge, along with the Chief Engineer. They both crossed over to stand by Susan's chair, leaning against the railing that prevented them from falling into the sunken area that held the bridge, and watching the viewscreen as carefully as she was.

"Good of you to join us Commander Petrov," Susan said as they reached her side, still not taking her eyes away from the screen. "How goes the repair work?"

The commander shrugged, also watching the viewscreen. "I think everything is working fine now. Nothing down there is like anything I have even seen before though so I'll be damned if I can tell for sure, I just have to trust what I'm told."

"It has all been fixed Captain," Philip Moore added. "I shipped Kozlowski off to the engineering decks to run some tests on one of the reactors so the repair crews can do their work. He was muttering something about turning off the AG system off so he could add some new circuit or something when I got there. I didn't think that would be a good idea though, and told him to wait until we were safely in orbit around Mars."

Susan looked pained at the thought of losing artificial gravity in mid flight. "He isn't going to cause any more trouble is he. If he is, I will be tossing him off the ship at our first stop. I can still feel the bump on my head."

Philip shook his head, "I don't think we have to worry about him. Nathan is a brilliant scientist; he just tends to live in his own little world most of the time, separate from everyone else. I think he was even kept in an institution as a child or something like that. Then, when they realised what he could do, they let him out and he has been shuffled around the various R&D sections for the past thirty years. As long as you have someone to keep an eye on him, he is fine. He didn't mean to cause the accident in the lift this morning you know."

Susan mused on this for a few seconds before asking, "I realise that it wasn't really his fault. Do you think he will work out ok here though? This is a warship after all, not a research station. We can't have him pulling up parts of the deck all the time to update systems. That isn't going to make things run very smoothly."

"We can't do without him," Philip answered without hesitation. "There are parts of this ship that only he knows about. I know, I have been working on them for the past two years, and still don't have a clue how most of the technology around here works, especially the storage cells and those new power relay circuits for some of the weapons."

Susan glanced towards Petrov, silently asking him for his opinion. He quickly supplied one, "I agree with the Lt-Commander Captain. We need Kozlowski. From what I was told there isn't anyone else in the fleet who knows how to run half the systems this ship has. Of course, we have full technical manuals on everything, but until our crew is used to the new systems, the manuals can only help so much."

"Very well he can stay then," Susan said, with a tone of resignation in her voice. "I want him supervised at all time though, just in case."

"I will set something up later today Captain," Philip said, consulting a notepad he pulled from his pocket. He quickly scanned the pages, before shutting it down and slipping it back into his pants pocket. "I will assign him an assistant to keep an eye on him. A few young recruits are being attached to engineering among those who are coming aboard at Mars, so I will give a couple of them the job of looking after the doctor while I keep the more experienced staff with me."

"Sounds like the best idea. I don't really want to have to do this, but based on his actions this morning I want him kept out of trouble. Make a list of the new systems we need his input on and see if you can't organise a few sessions where he can explain their function to our crew. We might as well put him to good use while he is here, and it wouldn't do for him to get ill before we know how to run those systems without him. We would be stuck in the middle of space with no-one to repair any problems, not the most pleasant prospect as I'm sure you will agree."

"I will get right on it Captain," the engineer said, pulling out his pad again to make some notes in it.

Susan was about to continue with the discussion when she was interrupted by the voice of the navigation officer. "We are just coming up on Triton now Captain. We will passing over the museum, I thought you might be interested."

"It might be worth a look Lieutenant," Susan responded, careful to keep her excitement at seeing it for the first time out of her voice. "Zoom the viewscreen in a bit as we pass Triton, so we can all see it."

"Yes Captain."

The young lieutenant flipped the view from the Rasputin's external cameras so it was showing the surface of Triton in the main viewscreen, instead of the space ahead of the warship. Then she zoomed in on the area of the moon where the museum had been built. Once this was done the lieutenant turned her eyes to watch the screen as the warship powered past the planet, along with everyone else who was on the bridge at the time.

Susan soon became aware that the rest of the bridge crew behind her were standing up out of their seats and were peaking over the raised section where the Captain's station was, most just as anxious as she was to see the Museum. Then it came into view, a small, bright dot of light on the moons surface, surrounded by the well lit shape of a vast mural covering the ice plains of Triton.

Shortly after the meeting of the two races, artists from Earth had worked together with Centauri artisans to construct possibly the largest mural in existence. It was carved deep into the methane ice of Triton with lasers, and then the ice was dyed permanently with chemicals that had been obtained from the Centauri. Lit by spotlights, which were set into the ice along its whole length, Susan could now see the form of the Earth Alliance symbol, along with the peacock like crest of the Centauri Republic. One of the sights that everyone on Earth wanted to see, Susan had only seen it before in vids or on ISN or one of the other networks. The experience of viewing it from space in person was something completely different.

The bridge was perfectly quiet, and it was even possible to hear the faint throbbing of the distant engines as the warship slowly glided above the surface of the moon, everyone attention focused on one of the most famous monuments in Earth Alliance history. It was a symbol of Earth's past, a time when humanity had thought that the stars held only wonders, a time before the wars and the troubles of recent times. It also marked the beginning of Earth's expansion onto other worlds, and to most people, especially those in Earthforce it was a place to visit at least once in a lifetime, to celebrate what they all strived to achieve.

As the moon slowly drifted past, Susan wished that she had the time to go down to the museum itself. There was contained a collection of some of the greatest Centauri and Human art works, although for the most part only copies. But as the originals were now kept locked away under guard all of the time it was the only way most people could get to see some of earth's greatest masterpieces. She dismissed this wish with a sigh, knowing that she would likely not get to see Neptune again for many years. It was possible that she could take a trip here by commercial liner for a holiday or something, but the current prices meant that it was cheaper to travel for a week to Disneyplanet that to stay in the hotels on Triton for a day. Despite what everyone thought the salary of an Earth Alliance captain did not tally up to that much.

Then they were past Triton and the Rasputin was into open space heading towards the Jumpgate. Susan sighed contentedly, pleased that she had finally been to Triton, a place she had wanted to see for so many years. She had passed by before of course, but that was always in a shuttle or one of the older warships and she had never been able to see the planet. Around her the bridge crew, who had sat quietly watching, headed back to their stations and the normal activities of the Rasputin's bridge began to resume.

"Quite a sight wasn't it Captain," asked the voice of Philip Moore. "Is that the first time you have seen it."

Susan nodded, "I have always wanted to visit, but never could find the time or money for the trip."

Philip nodded understandingly, not wanting to say anything more to break the moment though. He had been past Triton several times in the past two years, taking a shuttle from the Research station, but even then, the amazing sight of the mural still moved him, especially when he thought about the effort that had gone into its construction. He knew that eventually it would disappear, covered over by the constant ice eruptions from beneath the planets surface, but was determined to enjoy it while it remained.

"Captain we are ready to enter the Jumpgate," said the helmsman, interrupting the thoughts of all on the bridge. "Activating Jumpgate sequence in twenty seconds."

Susan and the rest of the crew gripped their chairs a little tighter. Even Philip was a little apprehensive. Despite all the tests that had been performed on the Rasputin, this was the first time the ship had been into hyperspace. There proved to be nothing to worry about though and the Rasputin shot into the vortex with barely even a shudder, smoother than most of the Bridge crew had expected.

Once they were in hyperspace bound for Earth Susan got up from of her chair and picked up the crew lists. Petrov looked at her and asked, "Do you want me to take over here Captain?"

"Yes Commander," Susan replied. "I will be in my office if anyone needs me. I want to have a quick look over this list before we arrive at Mars."

She turned to leave, and was just about to exit when a shudder ran through the whole ship and it began to slow suddenly. Then gravity of the bridge began to fade, dropping to around half Earth normal. Commander Petrov looked concerned, although Philip Moore looked more annoyed about the situation that anything else.

"Report," Susan ordered. "What is going on?"

The bridge crew were already scanning their consoles looking for the problem, and it wasn't long before one of them realised what the trouble was and relayed her findings to his commanding officers. "It looks like reactor's five and six have been taken offline for some reason. Those are the two experimental reactors. I'm not registering an actual fault though, it would appear they have been shut down on orders from engineering."

Susan glared at her chief engineer hoping he knew what the problem was. Philip was already way ahead of her and was rushing towards the door. "Don't worry Captain," he shouted as he ran off down the hallway to the lifts. "I will check to see what is going on. It may have something to do with the tests Dr Kozlowski is running."

"If it's his fault again then throw him in the brig and toss away the key," she yelled after the chief engineer who was sprinting towards the lifts to the lower decks.

Susan threw up her hands in frustration and walked off the bridge towards her office and quarters, which were at the front of the command deck. As she walked, she was imagining several very nasty tortures she could inflict on the ships designer if the power loss was due to something he had done. Nothing permanent seemed to be wrong though, for before she had even reached her office the gravity quickly returned to normal as stored power was re-routed into the artificial gravity system.

Susan soon forgot all about the trouble as she sat with her feet up on her desk, and a steaming cup of coffee in her hands, reading through the crew lists that Commander Petrov had drawn up for her. She knew that there was bound to be a few problems with a new vessel, but after nearly being killed this morning in the lift, and now with the reactors going down while they were in flight she was a little bit concerned. Reading through the records of her new crew did take her mind off the problems for a while. At least long enough for the rest of the short trip to Mars to pass by smoothly with no further interruptions.

* * *

The space above Mars was crawling with space going vessels as the EAS Rasputin came through the Jumpgate and entered a high orbit above the red planet. From his position on the bridge, Commander Petrov could see at least ten Omega class destroyers sharing their orbit as well as a large number of Condor troop transports, commercial liners and other private vessels. This region of space was considerably more crowded than he remember during his last visit several month ago so when he ordered the Rasputin into orbit it was well away from the Jumpgate and the flight paths of any other vessels.

He was just getting ready to call the Captain when she came in through the pressure doors. He quickly surrendered his seat to her and then as she sat down asked, "where to from here Captain? Do we have any orders yet?"

The Captain quickly scanned to latest readouts on her console before answering, "I just an uplink from Mars High a couple of minutes ago. We are both due on the station for a meeting with several senior staff from Earth tomorrow. Apparently, they want to see us to discuss some changes to the Rasputin's testing schedule. We are also to standby for delivery of not only the rest of our crew, but also the majority of our supplies. I'd expect the resupply to take a day or two at least on its own."

"That sounds about right captain," Petrov agreed, scanning the console in front of Susan, to check that everything was running smoothly. "I wanted to thank you as well captain, for taking that detour past Triton. That was the first time I had been past triton, and I am sure the rest of the crew appreciated it as well."

"Well I always wanted to visit," Susan explained, interrupting the chorus of agreement from the bridge crew. "I have never had a chance before, and that was probably the last chance I would have for a long, long time. Ever since my mother told me about it when I was a little girl I wanted to go there, to experience it for myself."

"Perhaps it will bring us good luck," Petrov said. "I have heard that some of the Centauri consider the site lucky, and that a visit will impart that luck to all who venture there."

Susan's thought quickly turned her thoughts away from her mother, and what had happened to her. "I doubt it, still we can use all the luck we can get, if today is anything to go by."

"I am sure things will work out fine." Petrov said. "All new ships have a few teething troubles, and I would not expect this one to be any different. One last thing Captain, will we have a chance to go down to the surface of Mars at all?"

"Probably, I will ask at the meeting with the command staff tomorrow. For now our orders are to stay in orbit around Mars, so I don't want anyone leaving the ship until I hear otherwise."

Petrov nodded. "If we do get a chance to go planetside, I would like permission for a short trip. It shouldn't take more than a day at the most. Perhaps even tonight if at all possible."

Susan examined his face noticing the worried frown there, a frown that was almost becoming a look of longing. "Well, if you check in with Mars High command to confirm our exact orders, that should be possible. Keep in touch with the Rasputin at all times though, just in case and I want to see you back here by the time I am ready to depart. I'm not that keen on walking into that meeting alone, so be back here by mid-morning at the latest. I gather that you have someone down there waiting for you."

Petrov's face showed only the briefest flash of a smile. Still it was more than she had seen from him so far. "I hope so Captain," he said. "With the civil war and everything, I haven't really had time to visit, and the link to Mars has been very erratic. I can only hope that she is still waiting for me down there."

"Well I hope you have better luck than me then Commander," Susan said, her impassive face hiding the pain she felt come pouring back as she thought again about Marcus' death.

"Me too Captain," Petrov said softly, think about the woman he had left behind on Mars. "Me too."

For a brief moment, they both were silent, thinking on their lives and their loves. Then Petrov returned Susan to the present by asking, "So what do you want done about Kozlowski Captain. I know he nearly caused a very bad accident this morning, but it wasn't his fault."

Susan moaned, she had almost forgotten about the errant doctor. "I guess I will have to speak to him. Do you know where he is?"

"Lt. Commander Moore is with him down in engineering I think."

Susan smiled at the thought of the engineer, who was probably fussing over the engines, trying to find out what had gone wrong with the reactors earlier that day. "I might go and speak to him right now, is everything secure up here?"

"Yes Captain," Petrov said as he moved to look over her shoulder at the console. "We have achieved a stable geostationary orbit and Mars High C&C has just confirmed our position with navigation, so they know we are here, although I imagine we are a little hard to miss. If we keep to this orbit, we should be right here for a few days at least, although there is a lot of traffic out there at the moment. They are keeping to normal space lanes, but I'll have navigation keep a close eye on our neighbours. I think that the movement have something to do with the withdrawal of Earthforce ground troops from the planet."

"Yes that sounds likely. I know we are getting some of the marines that have been stationed on Mars. I am not too sure about having them on board, they do have bad reputation, and what they did on Mars during the war certainly didn't help anything."

"I am sure they will be fine," the Commander tried to assure her. "These are elite marines after all, not the thugs you can find in the ground forces. Besides I know the Major personally and can vouch for her, she is a reliable and trustworthy soldier, one of the best."

"I certainly hope so," Susan said, still not really convinced. "We can worry about that when Major Logan comes on board. Right now, I think I'd best go and have a chat to Dr Kozlowski and Lt. Commander Moore and see if we can't discover what is wrong with those experimental reactors. I don't want the ship to start falling apart on me, especially after I have only had it for a day."

"That certainly wouldn't look good on our records," Petrov agreed. "Shall I get someone to take over for me here. I can order Lt. Commander Schmitt up to the bridge if you think it necessary. Despite his desire to familiarise himself with his new command, he doesn't have anything of significance to do until his fighter pilots arrive."

Susan shook her head slowly, "Well I don't think that will be necessary, one of the bridge crew should do fine. I won't be long down in engineering, and I am sure Mr Schmitt has plenty to do at the moment."

"As you wish Captain," Petrov said, turning to the lieutenant who was in charge of navigation. "Lieutenant Heneker, take command here until the Captain returns."

Satisfied that the ship would be well looked after until she got back Susan left the bridge, determined to discover what exactly was going on in Engineering, and what part Dr Nathan Kozlowski had played in it. After the accident in the lift, she had been willing to forgive him, especially as she now realised that it was partly her fault as well, but if he was responsible for the trouble with the reactors as well then she might have more than a few harsh words to say to the good doctor.

* * *

Engineering was a hive of activity by the time Susan arrived. Several huge, looped coiled pipes, replacement fuel conduits as far as she could tell, were scattered across the metal grating that passed for a floor in this section of the ship and several of the engineering crew were dragging replacement sections of pipe through one of the pressure doors. Avoiding the floor where fuel had leaked from one the old pipes, Susan looked around for the chief engineer and soon spotted him and Kozlowski busy supervising some the work.

"What the hell is going on here Lt-Commander," Susan asked brusquely.

Both the Philip and Kozlowski looked up and seeing their captain tried to hide looks of guilt that came unbidden to their faces. Susan however noticed them and asked suspiciously, "Everything is working all right isn't it. This isn't a major problem is it?"

"Um," Philip began. "Not really Captain, just a minor oversight during the initial construction phase. It is nothing serious or life-threatening, and we should have the experimental reactors operational within a two hours at the latest."

Susan glanced around at the crewmembers, now busily replacing several of the main fuel lines. "Let me guess, something to do with the fuel system."

Dr Kozlowski nodded quickly. "Yes that is all Captain, just a minor problem, nothing to worry about really."

Susan eyed both men, still suspicious more going on here that she was being told. She wasn't going to leave here until she heard the truth either. "Well what is it then. I think as Captain I have a right to know what is wrong with my ship."

Philip sighed in resignation, "Well as the doctor said it is only a minor problem. We forgot to change over the fuel lines from a new variant we were testing a month or so ago back to the standard system. The new design, while improving efficiency, still has significant problems with leakage when placed under especially high pressure, which is why we were returning to the standard. Unfortunately, with the rush to get this vessel operation no one got around to actually doing the replacement. Then as we entered hyperspace the lines to reactors five and six began leaking and I am sure you realise what sort of trouble that could have caused if leaking fuel had come into contact with the reactor."

Susan involuntarily shuddered as she realised how close they had come to disaster. "The reactors could have blown, taking most of the ship with them."

Philip nodded, "that's right, fortunately Nathan was here to notice the problem and switch them off in time. Once they were off-line we could begin repairing the damage."

"Do we have enough spare fuel conduits to replace the damaged ones?" Susan asked.

Philip looked over at Kozlowski who quickly consulted a data pad before responding. "Yes it seems as though both the replacement parts as well as the normal spares were in storage. They were never installed though for some reason. I'll make a report about the incident to send back to Neptune to ensure this sort of incident never happens again. We have dragged them out now anyway and have nearly finished replacing the fuel lines on the two affected reactors. We can bring both reactors back online as soon as we check the connections and clear up the spilt fuel. It shouldn't take more than two hours at the most."

Susan nodded slowly as the scientist gave his report before saying, "good work then, both of you. I will get back to the bridge. Oh and if you get some time off later I will buy you each a drink."

"I don't think we are allowed alcohol on board Captain," Kozlowski said.

"Well we will have to drink coffee then. See me on the bridge when you are finished here."

Susan turned away and walked back to the transporter to the rest of the ship, pleased that she had been wrong about Kozlowski and it had not been his fault with the reactors. If anything, the balding scientist had saved the ship from certain disaster. She had seen often enough over the past few months what happened to a ship when its fusion reactor blew. Plenty of Earth vessels during the civil war had been destroyed in just that way, and she wouldn't wish that fate on anyone, especially herself.

Stepping off the transport near the computer core, she paused for a moment and thought back on what Petrov has said about good luck. Perhaps he might be right after all, if the doctor had not noticed the fuel leak then they could have been dead by now, so that was certainly a stroke of good luck. Susan could only hope now that her luck continued to hold out, especially if today's events were a guide to how the first few weeks of her new command were going to pan out. A little apprehensive about the future, she headed for the stairs leading up to the command decks and the officer's mess, hoping that she could at last get her long delayed lunch.

* * *


	7. Chapter 7

* * *

**February 1, 2262, Mars.**

The giant starfish shape of the Mars High station spun slowly in its orbit just above the thin atmosphere of the red planet. As the only major station in orbit above the planet, it was the natural transfer point for any passengers disembarking from larger vessels such as the Earth Alliance capital ships or one of the large interplanetary liners. In fact, two of the huge liners, each capable of carrying nearly a thousand passengers were currently docked with the station, attached to the ends of one of the triangular arms of the space station.

The station sat above Mars in a low geostationary orbit, positioned so it was always directly above the main civilian spaceport on the planet below. With Mars' gravity around forty percent of Earth normal most smaller transports and passenger vessels could land on the planet with little difficulty, the thin atmosphere still heating their outer surfaces, but not the degree they would have experienced landing on Earth. The larger vessels like the liners, however, were not equipped for planetary landings and were forced to dock with the station to transfer their passengers and cargo, and as a result a constant stream of small shuttles and transport ships could be seen moving between the surface and the station, like bees travelling to and fro from their hive.

The beehive must have been exceptionally busy this day as Susan could see at least a hundred small craft filling the skies of Mars, and this made the piloting of her own large shuttle a lot more difficult. Although once again she had allowed the shuttle's regular pilot to guide the craft while she sat up front, enjoying the view. Despite her misgivings about the upcoming meeting with the commander of Earthforce activities on Mars, she was determined to try to forget her somewhat trivial concerns for the moment, and was spending the entire journey across to the station trying to identify the makes and models of all the different craft that were currently plying the upper atmosphere.

The pilot however did not seem to be enjoying the ride at all, despite the presence of the lovely captain next to him in the Co-pilot's seat. He was terrified of making a mistake, and had Susan taken the time to look, she would have noticed that sweat was trickling down the sides of his face. He was not worried about the actually journey, he had made the same trip many times before, but rather he was concerned about the Captain's presence, sure that she was only here to spot any mistake he made. Despite his concerns, he flew the shuttle perfectly, perhaps the best he had even flown before and his docking with the station was spot on, coming to rest in the shuttle dock with barely a jolt. When he looked back on the journey latter that day, he would sigh as he thought that it really was a pity that he wasn't being evaluated after all.

The pilot breathed a heavy sigh of relief when the shuttle was at last safely secured in the Station's main docking bay and the Captain was climbing back down out of the cockpit. He wiped his brow with a thick handkerchief and gave a little prayer that the Captain would be taking the other shuttle back on her return. Fortunately, it looked like his wish was going to be granted, as he could already see a large collection of uniformed men and woman gathered on the deck, most likely enlisted crew bound for the Rasputin. Tucking the handkerchief back into his pocket, he waited for word from Mars High Flight Control.

Susan was already well on her way into the station proper. She had stopped only for a moment to answer the salutes of the new members of her crew, most of them looking so young and inexperienced to her war-weary eyes. Then she had left the docking bay, almost running in her haste to get to the rendezvous she had arranged earlier that day with Commander Petrov. Originally, she did plan for her executive officer to return to the Rasputin before travelling together to the station, but as he was unable to find a shuttle flight in time, she changed plans and asked Petrov to meet her on the station. Now she was running late, having been delayed by Flight Control for nearly an hour as the Station struggled with the heavy influx of the morning traffic from the surface, most likely the shuttles bringing up passengers for one of the two liners.

Hurrying through the large pressure doors from the docking bay Susan suddenly pulled up short, looking out over the crowded chaos that was the embarkation terminal for the station. Thousands of beings, mostly human, but the odd alien breaking the monotony filled her vision, a swarming mass that she could see no path through. She cursed under her breath, realising that she must have arrived just as one of the big liners that she had noticed on the way in was about to take on passengers. Add to that the merchants who had built their stalls along the walls of the terminal and Susan was stuck.

Still Captain Susan Ivanova was not one to give up easily and with a deep breath, and a quick prayer she plunged into the surging crowd, struggling to reach the cafe where she had arranged to meet the Commander. She soon found herself adrift in a tide of humanity, one that seemed to be going in the opposite direction to her. Still she struggled on, despite the jostling and was soon making headway, although it was slow going.

Then she spotted a break in the crowd and ducked into the open doorway of a small stall that seemed empty for now. She decided that it might be best to wait until the majority of the crowd had bordered their vessel, and again cursed herself for having the bad luck to land in the same station arm as one of liners. Still the crowd seemed to be thinning now, as they all headed towards the customs and security checkpoints at the far end of the passageway.

She was just about to leave the shop when a voice assaulted her from behind. "My lady, what good taste you must have to land here in the humble, insignificant shop of Joran Yari, a poor soul not worthy of your presence."

She turned wearily around to tell the shopkeeper that she was only interested in waiting until the crowd of passengers cleared out of the passageway and was not interested in purchasing any of her wares. The Centari merchant did not even give her the chance to speak though, continuing with what was obviously his regular spiel. "Perhaps I might interest you in this fine brevare, sweetest in all of the republic. Although maybe a lady such as yourself would be interested in this cream, just perfect to make your head lovely and bald and get rid of all that ugly hair. I really do not know why human woman persist with allowing their hair to grow in such a manner when with just one easy application it could all be gone."

He slid smoothly towards her, holding out the bottle of cream in his hands, and even seemed ready to demonstrate its effectiveness on the Captain's hair. Susan looked at him in horror and immediately raised her hands to fend him away. He did not seem offended by this action, putting down the cream and offering her a fine bone comb, one usually reserved for Centari gentlemen. Not wanting any further interruption to her journey she grabbed his arm firmly and said, "look, I am not interested in anything in your shop. I came in here by mistake and now I must be going."

"Not even one bottle of brevare," he said quizzically, holding out the fine crystal bottle in his hands once more for her to examine. "I will even let you have a taste first, I understand that is the human custom. Of course, it spoils the flavour, but only a Centauri could tell the difference."

"I already have several in my quarters, gifts from Prime Minister Londo Mollari," she replied backing out of the shop as fast as she could, and at the same time trying not to offend the merchant too much.

"Prime Minister Mollari," he gasped, suddenly pulling away from Susan and allowing her to leave without any further attempts for a sale. She looked closely at him for a moment before noticing the look of fear that played across his features, and realising that he was likely another of Londo's victims. As much as she had grown to tolerate, even like the Centari ambassador, he had done some horrible things in the past and even among his own people were those he had hurt. This poor merchant was probably one of them. She was tempted to buy something, but then a glance at her link bought her attention back to more urgent matters as she noticed the time. She cursed once more before turning and sprinting down the passageway towards the centre of the station, where she hoped Petrov would still be waiting for her.

As she ran off towards the rendezvous point two men stepped out of the shadows that gathered behind the Centauri's shop and watched her retreating figure. Both men were remarkable similar in appearance, with nondescript features, and the same dark, unremarkable clothing. They even had the same hair and eye colour, both brown haired with brown eyes. Anyone who looked closer though could see that they were not identical twins, but rather two men who had made every effort to look alike, and seemed to be succeeding very well indeed.

The similarity was about the only remarkable thing about them, and most eyes just passed right over them, dismissing them as unimportant, or as too poor to be worth harassing for a purchase. This was just the way they liked it, for their jobs required that they be able to avoid detection at all costs, and these two were very good at their jobs. Even the Centari shopkeeper did not attempt to coax them inside when he came out to watch the Captain hurry away.

They both noticed the shopkeeper however and waited until he had returned inside his shop before one of them withdrew a small data pad from a pocket and consulted it. He looked carefully at the display it for a moment and then in the direction he had last seen Ivanova heading. Satisfied he turned to his companion and nodded once. His companion nodded back in response and the first man returned the data pad to the inside pocket of his coat and they both set off in pursuit, careful not to run, least they raise attention to themselves. The passageway was now clear of the majority of the civilian passengers who had filled it just minutes earlier, the last ones just leaving through the customs port behind them. There were still a lot of shoppers and other travellers left, not as many as a minute ago, but still enough to allow the two men to slip unnoticed thought the crowd as they carried out their pursuit.

Two minutes later Susan finally reached the cafe where she was to meet Commander Petrov and found him already seated at a table, sipping a cup of coffee, and polishing off the last of a plate of what looked like scrambled eggs. She walked over to his table and sat down in the chair opposite him, trying not to look like she had been running to get here. Petrov however noticed her lack of breath and realised at once that she must have really hurried to get here on time.

"Caught in the rush Captain," he asked, smiling warmly at her. "It is certainly busy out there today. It seems like everyone is trying to get off Mars at once."

Susan looked at him curiously, not remembering the Commander as ever having been this cheerful before. She nodded, but as she was still trying to catch her breath, did not answer with words. He smiled again, and gestured to a waitress to bring over another cup of coffee. She quickly complied and Susan gratefully accepted the gift, sipping it slowly as she let her exhaustion slip away and the feeling of warmth and comfort that she always got with a nice cup of coffee return. She closed her eyes and let the steam drift into her nostrils, slowly absorbing the pleasant smell before taking another sip.

Her peace was quickly interrupted though as the dull, synthesised voice of the station's computer echoed across the station. "Attention all passengers for the liner Jupiter's Glory please proceed immediately to embarkation terminal alpha. Liner Jupiter's Glory will be departing in twenty minutes, stopping at Earth, Proxima III, Centari Prime, and Babylon 5."

Susan tuned out the rest of the broadcast as the computer voice repeated the message in several more languages, most human, while others were alien, including worker-caste Minbari, of which she knew a little. She glanced around the cafe, examining the rest of the patrons. There were few who caught her attention however, the most interesting being a young warrior-caste Minbari, a ranger by the look of his uniform. He was sitting alone at a table, being pointedly avoided by other patrons, the Earth-Minbari war and Clark's propaganda not easily forgotten. She quickly glanced away, not wanting to be recognised and also not wanting to remember the last time she had seen that uniform, or who had been wearing it.

"It certainly is busy here today Captain," Petrov said, drawing her attention away from the cafe's patrons. "I even had trouble making it up from the surface by shuttle this morning, and apparently there has been at least one accident, a minor collision between two shuttles."

Susan then remembered why the Commander had gone to the surface last night and leaning over a little closer before asking, "and how did your little trip go Commander, a good result I hope."

Petrov smiled, and then to Susan's amazement even seemed to blush a little. "Very good Captain," he said softly as he remembered his reunion with his lover. "Very good indeed."

"That would explain the good mood then," she murmured to herself. Petrov caught her words, but did not comment, although he agreed with her fully. He did feel a lot better today, with one of the things that had worried him for so long now resolved. With the rebellion on Mars, he had heard terrible stories about the death and destruction that had occurred. It had even affected some of the larger domed cities so he had been most relieved to discover Leira was still all right, and that she was still happy to see him.

Lost in his memories of the previous night he finished his breakfast, while Susan drank her coffee, enjoying the taste of real coffee, something she had not enjoyed since her short trip to the Russian Consortium several weeks ago. "Where did you find this place from Commander," she asked. "It has been a while since I have had real coffee like this on an Earth Alliance Station. On Babylon 5 I even had to grow it myself."

Petrov smiled, "It is one of my favourite cafes on the whole station. T he owner also runs several small cafes in Europe so he imports everything from back home. It makes it a bit more expensive, but as you must agree it is worth the extra cost."

Susan took another sip, enjoying the wonderful flavour. "It certainly is. I will have to remember this in the future, although I usually don't spent that much time at this station. That may change if we are stationed at Mars."

"Well I always make it a point to stop here on my way through," Petrov told her as he finished off the last of his cup of coffee and signalled for the waitress.

She came over with the portable data reader and asked for his credit chit. Just as he was about to reach for it, Susan interrupted him. "No, let me pay for this Commander."

Petrov at once objected, pointing out that it was his meal after all, and all she had was a single cup of coffee. She shook her head to dismiss his objections. "It is alright Commander, Earthforce gave me a year and a half's back pay to help entice me back, so I am fairly well off for the moment."

"Well in that case Captain," Petrov grinned, indicating for the waitress to use Susan's card instead. The waitress quickly scanned the credit chit and after withdrawing the correct amount, handed it back to Susan. Petrov pushed away his now empty plate and scanned his link again to check on the time. "Well I guess we had best get moving Captain. The General is expecting us soon, and with the station this busy it might pay to set out a little earlier than planned."

Susan nodded and after downing the rest of her coffee got to her feet and followed Petrov out into the crowded walkway once more, this time bound for the area of the station restricted to Earthforce members only. Near the rear of the café, the two men who had followed Susan since she had disembarked from her shuttle remained seated, each drinking a tall glass of milk, a rare commodity on a space station far from the nearest cow, or even anything that looked like a cow.

Only when the two Earthforce officers were at last out of sight did the first man raise his hand to the front of his coat and switch on his personal communicator. Looking just like a small button the communicator was designed to be just that, and was usually stitched onto a shirt or jacket so it could be worn without anyone suspecting its true purpose. Inside however was a powerful battery and transmitter capable of sending a signal from the ground to an orbiting spaceship. This time it had a much shorter distance to travel, but it was no less effective.

"Agent W3 to K," the dark clad man whispered softly into the communicator. "Have sighted target two, will follow. Any new orders?"

Through a tiny implant in the man's left ear the reply was almost instantaneous. "Follow target two, but do not terminate for now. However, if she meets with target one then terminate them both. K out."

The man did not question his orders, or ask for further instruction. He was trained to obey, and that is what he did so very well. With a quick glance over at his companion, he nodded once in the direction of the direction Susan had gone. Then, as one, they both rose from their seats and strode off into the crowd in pursuit of their target. Among the throngs of humanity that teamed along the thoroughfare, the two men soon blended into the crowd, relying on their training to pass almost unnoticed.

* * *

The General's office was right at the far end of the station, in a region closed to the civilian public. Susan was just glad to get away from the crush of humans and aliens that had filled the other passageways at last. She slowed her pace a little, not really wanting to arrive too early for their meeting, realising that despite her late arrival on the station she had put aside more than enough time for the short journey to the General's office. She was not looking forward to this meeting however, certain that the General was going to send her off on an impossible mission or banish her to some desolate section of the Alliance, all as punishment for her support of Sheridan during the civil war. She knew that she was probably being a little paranoid as most people blamed Clark for the civil war, not her.

Finally, they arrived at the General office and were directed to wait outside by his secretary, who informed them that the General currently had another visitor, but would see them in a moment. That visitor turned out to be a short, black-haired man dressed in the green uniform of a telepath who was currently attached to the military. He may have been attached to the military but as he turned towards Susan and Petrov they could see that he still wore the gloves and badge that indicated his membership in the Psi-Corp. No matter what service they might work in these two symbols never changed for a telepath.

The telepath's eyes passed over the two Earthforce officers and for a moment focused on Susan. She felt a shiver of fear run up her spine, scared that he would scan her and discover her own latent telepathic abilities. She could feel nothing though, and all he did was examine her closely for a second before inclining his head in her direction once and turning to walk back down the corridor. Susan almost breathed a sigh of relief as he left, and avoided watching him as he walked away from them, although Petrov stared at the telepath back for several seconds before returning his attention back to the door leading into the General's office.

Then the secretary informed them that the General was now available to see them and they both entered the large office. General Harry McCarron, a large, white-haired man who looked about sixty, although his muscular body still appeared to be just as fit as he must have been when he had first joined Earthforce. The old warrior had signed up during the war against the Dilgar and now, coming to the end of his career, was one of the most respected officers in the Earth Alliance military, and the current head of Earthforce operations on Mars.

The general invited them to both sit, while he brushed imaginary flecks of dust off his spotless brown uniform. Then when they were seated he spoke, "It is good to finally meet you Captain Ivanova. I have heard a lot of good things about you and if half of what I have heard is true then I am sure we will get along nicely."

"Thank you General," Susan said, relaxing a little from the tension that had gripped her when she had first entered the office.

"And Commander Petrov," the General said, turning his head to examine the Commander closely. "It is good to have you on board for this project as well. Anyway we may as well get down to business, I am a busy man these days, so can't afford to waste any time. I have to organise transfers for over a hundred thousand men, not to mention ten destroyers and a hundred other vessels. A word of warning to both of you, never accept a desk job like me, you will live to regret it."

That out of the way, the General pulled out two sheets of paper from a folder that he picked up from his desk and handed one each to both Susan and Petrov. "Now this is memo from Earthdome regarding a minor change from your original crew. Because the Warlock destroyers have still not really been fully tested, and do contain some alien-sourced technology we have yet to evaluate the crew responses to working on them. So to complete its evaluation, Fleet Command has decided to send two telepaths along with you to assist in this evaluation."

"Telepaths?" Susan asked with a strange tone in her voice. "Is that really necessary?"

The General shook his head. "Not really, and personally I am against the whole idea. I have never really liked the idea of those brain suckers reading my mind. However, I don't make the orders, Earthdome does and they want to send the telepaths along with you. I wouldn't worry too much though as they won't be permitted to scan anyone without their permission, and are only really present to judge crew reaction, not to monitor their thoughts. Anyway, if they do cause any trouble I for one will not be sorry to see you pitch them out the nearest airlock. Don't quote me on that during your court marshal though."

"I am sure the Captain and I can accommodate them General," Petrov said, with a sideways glare of warning towards Susan who looked like she was about to continue her protests. "As long as they do not interfere with the normal operations of the Rasputin I am sure they will be no trouble."

"Good," the General said nodding. "Now one of the telepaths has already been decided, and he is Darren Anderson, the man you just saw a minute ago, outside my office. He has been working with the military for nearly five years now so you should find him easy enough to work alongside. The other has yet to be decided, but Mr. Anderson said he would be choosing a suitable assistant this afternoon."

"I am sure he will make a good choice General," Petrov said, continuing to answer for his Captain on this matter. He had read the Captain's record before he joined the Rasputin's crew and knew her aversion to telepaths, and didn't really want her to get into any trouble because of her feelings. Susan certainly did not look happy about the whole thing, but at least refrained from telling the General what she really thought of telepaths being on her vessel.

"Yes he should," the General continued. "Anyway Mr. Anderson and his assistant will be coming on board sometime in the next two days. The rest of your crew should arrive over that period as well. Some have are being transferred from Earth and other bases even further away so it will take a little while for them all to arrive. I think you will find yourselves very happy enough with the crew we have assembled for you."

"They certainly seemed to be a very experienced selection," Susan agreed. "I was very surprised when I saw some of the names, especially those of the fighter pilots. It looks like we are getting some of the real ace pilots from other vessels."

General McCarron nodded at her assessment, handing her another paper, this one showing the list of fighter pilots that she had just mentioned. "Yes we have tried to put together the best crew we can find. With half of the fleet laid up for repairs then there are plenty of good men and woman with nothing to do, and a position on the Rasputin at least gets them working again instead of sitting around on some base cooling their heels or worse getting themselves into trouble while they wait for their destroyers to be patched up."

Susan looked faintly embarrassed at the General's words, knowing that she was responsible for a lot of the damage caused. The General did not seem to be blaming her though as he continued. "Which is really why we need your ship up and running as soon as possible. Earthforce only has around fifty operational destroyers left in the field right now, the rest were either destroyed in the recent troubles, or so badly damaged that it will be months before they are back in space again. The whole Alliance is vulnerable at the moment, and we need all the vessels we can spare."

"Are there any threats at the moment though General," Susan interrupted. "I mean with the interstellar alliance protecting our borders, are things that bad?"

The General did not seem annoyed at her interruption and he considered her word before continuing. "Well I am sure that they mean well, but we need to be able to stand on our own feet, not rely on outside forces to protect us. Right now, Earth could not even hold off a minor attack from one of the large alien governments, let alone a full assault. With the defence grid around Earth destroyed we have had to position most of the fleet there to protect our homeworld, however that has left us with only twenty destroyers to patrol the rest of the Alliance against raiders and other enemies. I'd consider double that number still too few for the job."

"Is that what you need us to do General," Petrov queried.

"Partly. With most of the fleet around Earth, we need every ship we can get out in the field. There are entire colonies out there with virtually no protection at all at the moment, well nothing more than a few Starfuries anyway. Flynn Colony is being guarded by a single Nova dreadnaught, Proxima has two destroyers, and most of the other colonies are similarly undermanned. I don't think a Starfury and a couple of destroyers, no matter how good their commanders are, can hold off an alien fleet. They are going to be hard pressed to deal with pirates and raiders. This is why I need your ship in the field as soon as possible."

"The Rasputin is hardly ready for active duty yet though General," Susan said, quickly recounting the problems they had experienced already since she had taken command.

General McCarron considered these for a moment before replying. "Hmm, well it does look like a little more testing might be called for. However, that has already been taken into consideration by Fleet Command when writing up your orders. You probably noticed the large number of troop transports over Mars when you arrived."

When both Susan and Petrov indicated that they had seen the vessels the General continued. "Well as you might know Mars is being granted independence, all part of Sheridan's deal with Luchenko or some bullshit like that. Anyway what this means is that Earthforce has to withdraw all of its troops from Mars, and thanks to Clark we have a huge garrison currently stationed here. You will be given the task of escorting ten thousand of these soldiers to their new base."

The General picked up another piece of paper, looked at for a moment to ensure it was the correct one and then handed it over to Susan to read. "As you can see you will be escorting two of our Condor troops transports to Proxima III where a new base is already being established for them. You will be placed under the direct command of Admiral Mellor, the current head of Earthforce colonial authority, at least until your ship has undergone the necessary field testing and is ready for deployment on the frontier."

Susan looked confused about this for a minute. "I thought Proxima wanted independence as well," she asked. "They suffered almost as much as Mars under Clark's rule and I thought they would join them in declaring independence after the war."

The General shrugged, indicating such matters were outside his jurisdiction, which currently only stretched to this station and those soldiers under his command still stationed on mars. "They had some sort of vote on it and decided to stay with the Alliance, mainly for the protection that we could offer. Now we have to carry out our part of the bargain and start securing the planet from attack. Proxima is after all our second largest colony, after Mars, and its protein farms are of considerable importance, especially considering that Earth's food production facilities cannot produce enough food to feed us all. Earth needs Proxima at the moment, and Earthdome was willing to pay heavily to get them back on our side."

"Are we going to be based at Proxima?" Petrov asked.

McCarron nodded. "To start with. You still have to put your ship through some testing. As I understand it, most of the systems are still experimental and haven't really been fully tested. Fleet Command has decided to send you to Proxima, along with the Apollo. The Vesta and the Odysseus are the two destroyers already on station. I think four destroyers should be enough to secure Proxima against any pirates or other raiders that may decide to try raiding the colony. Anything larger and you will have to call on Sheridan's forces."

The General suddenly stopped, his voice interrupted by loud bout of coughing. He poured himself a large glass of water and drank it before continuing. "Of course you will not only be at Proxima III, you will be operating through the entire system. There is also the possibility that you could be sent to another system as well, if you are needed. I think your ship should be able to handle that, and as long as you don't start feeling restless for battle then you should find the posting enjoyable enough. I realise that Proxima is hardly the most pleasant world, but I can think or worse places to be. Well any more questions?"

Neither the Captain nor Petrov could think of anything so he rose from his chair and shook both their hands. "Well then I wish you luck with your new command. You will be here for a couple of days yet while you are waiting for the rest of your crew and supplies to be loaded, so if there is anything else come and let me know. I don't seem to be going anywhere for the moment."

They both said that they would and were just leaving the room when the General called Susan back. "Captain, just one last thing. I was wondering if I could have a word with you in private."

Petrov nodded, and then smartly saluted the General before departing. Susan walked back into the room and joined McCarron next to the large picture window that looked down on the red globe of Mars, some distance below them. The General looked a little uncomfortable with what he was about to say, and hesitated before speaking. "I didn't really want to say this with the Commander present Captain, but I wanted to warn you before you left."

He hesitated again, fidgeting with a thin piece of paper, a printout from a computer terminal. Susan stood quietly waiting for him to continue, not wanting to push him. His attitude still seemed friendly enough, but she was still worried about what he had to say. Instead of speaking, he passed her the printout instead and she quickly scanned it, seeing it was a list of names, none of whom she recognised.

"I thought I had better give this to you Captain," he finally said, seeing her confusion about the meaning of the list. "Earthdome didn't want to worry you, but I didn't think it would be a good idea to send you off without first warning you about all possible problems."

"This is a list of those who remained loyal to Clark isn't it?" She asked with a sudden dread in her voice.

The General nodded. "Only those that we didn't arrest after Clark's suicide. Most of them are only junior officers from some of the ships that remained loyal to him, but a couple on there were his senior advisers. Now we don't know for sure that they will try to get revenge and even if they do, it will probably be against Sheridan, not you. However, I though you have better have this list as well, just in case. A copy has already been sent on to Babylon 5, so Sheridan has been warned as well."

"I had hoped that all of that would be over by now."

"And it probably is Captain," the General tried to reassure her. "This is just a precaution, after all we wouldn't want anything to happen to you. Anyway, as I said they would probably not come after you, but there has already been one attempt on Sheridan, and before you ask he was unharmed."

"Well that is some good news at least," she said angrily.

"I wouldn't worry too much Captain," the General assured her. "Earthdome doesn't want anything happening to you, and if any of those names appear on an Alliance colony then they will be arrested. We think most of them are hiding out on Earth though. It is a lot easier to hide yourself among all the billions down there that out on one of the colony worlds."

"I thought most of Earthdome would just prefer I vanish," she snorted, remembering the way she had been left on Station Prime for three weeks, with no contact from anyone in Earthforce.

"Not so Captain," the General said. "Most of Fleet Command is pleased that you returned to Earthforce, and didn't resign with Sheridan. In their eyes, you made the right choice and returned home with all the other Earthforce officers who sided with Sheridan, rather than continue to serve on an independent Babylon 5. Besides, with so many lost in the war they didn't want to lose you as well. You are one of the most experienced officers left in the fleet, and we need everyone we can get right now. Besides, with ISN portraying you as something of a hero they want you out in the field, flying the flag. I think they wanted your image even more than they you, someone to attract new recruits after the recent troubles we've had."

"I would hardly consider myself a role model General," Susan commented dryly.

"Well you might not consider yourself one, but Fleet Command does. If you are not carefully they will probably want to put your face on posters at recruitment offices."

Susan looked aghast at the very idea, and said as much to the General. He only laughed, obviously enjoying teasing her. "Don't worry Captain I don't think they have any plans to do it just yet. Any more heroic exploits and they might though. For a while, you might like to just stick to being plain old Captain Ivanova, instead of the darling of the media. Proxima III is a good place for that, a nice colonial posting, not too far from home, but well away from any trouble. Of course, the whole planet is one big desert, and it doesn't have the nightlife we have here on Mars, but apart from that it's a good posting. Have you ever consider a posting there before?"

"Not really General, but I guess I could get used to it. After all it is only for a year."

General McCarron nodded in agreement. "Yes probably for a year, although it could be a lot less than that, all depending on how your new ship turns out. Some of the senators back in Earthdome are a little concerned about the amount of money that has been poured into the Warlock project over the past couple of years. It is estimated that each Warlock is going to cost us roughly five times what the Omega's cost, so unless the Rasputin proves to be a big improvement over the older destroyers the whole project is a chance of being scrapped."

"Well then I will do my best General," Susan said firmly.

"I am sure you will Captain," the General agreed. "Anyway as much as I would like to continue this chat I do have work to do. Besides we don't want to keep Commander Petrov waiting for too long now do we. However, if you do have any problems while you are here, don't hesitate to call me, I could use the break from this damn paperwork."

Susan said she would and then after another round of shaking hands the General guided out of his office and into the hallway where Petrov waited. Carefully stuffing the printout of names into her pocket and resolving to deal with it later, she joined the Commander as they walked slowly back towards the busy centre of the Station.

* * *


	8. Chapter 8

* * *

"Well that went a lot better than I could have hoped," Susan commented to Petrov as they left the Earthforce section of the station. "I guess escorting transports around the place is not too bad. It will actually feel good to be away from any battles for a while."

"Indeed captain," Petrov said, agreeing with her fully. "I am not too sure about having those two telepaths on board though. Never really trusted them myself, and they were said to be behind a lot of what Clark did."

Susan had almost forgotten about the telepaths that had been posted to her vessel, and thinking about them drove away the pleasant thoughts. While she had served with Telepaths on Babylon 5, the space station was considerably larger than the Rasputin was and it was possible to avoid them whenever she had wanted too. Of course, after a while she had found that she had not wanted to avoid a certain telepath. However, after Talia had been taken from her so had the trust they had built up and she never wanted another telepath near her again, especially not Lyta Alexander. Although she had served with Lyta she could never trusted her as she had Talia and in many ways still blamed Lyta as much as Psi-Corp for Talia's fate.

Earthforce was not likely to be moved on its position though, so she would just have to put up with the situation as she had done so many times before. She resolved though that if either of the telepath stationed on her ship attempted to scan her they would quickly come to regret their attempt. Although her mother has shown her several techniques to avoid her latent telepathic abilities from being detected by a casual scan, and she lacked the genetic marker that identified most telepaths, Susan could not risk allowing any telepath to that close ever again. After her time with Talia, she knew that any telepath she allowed to get close to her would be sure to detect her abilities and then she would be dragged off to the Psi-Corps and end up like her mother, trapped in a dying body by the drugs that they had fed her.

She knew she could not allow that to ever happen and it remained her greatest fear, one she had only even been able to admit to John, one of her oldest friends, and even then only when threatened by the arrival of Lyta. It also reminded her of the result of the inquisition that followed and she still grew angry when she remembered how events had played out. Several times over the past couple of years, she imagined that if Talia had never come into Sheridan's office at that time then they would still be together. At least that was what her heart was telling her, her mind knew the truth. Talia had always been part of the Psi-Corps. Their tampering had trapped Talia in her own mind, and then finally taken her away from Susan for good.

"Are you ok Captain," Petrov asked, staring at her with some concern after she had not answered his last question. Susan didn't notice him talking, her mind still far away, stuck in the past. He repeated the question and this time she finally focusing her thoughts back into the present, and onto what he was saying.

"Yes I am fine Commander," she said softly. "I was just thinking about something that happened a long, long time ago."

Petrov did not push her for an explanation. He did not want to interfere in the Captain personal affairs despite the pain he could see her feeling. "I asked if there was anything else you needed me for this morning."

Susan thought for a moment about her schedule before replying, "nothing I can think of Commander. Why is there something you have to do?"

Petrov nodded, "I wanted to buy a something, a small present for a friend of mine. I noticed a shop back there that might have what I am looking for, so if you don't mind I might just pop back and take a look around. There is no need to wait for me as there are several shuttles scheduled to travel back to the Rasputin throughout the day and I can catch a lift on one of them. "

"Ok Commander," Susan said nodding. "Just make sure you are back on board in time to meet Major Logan when she comes aboard with her marines. Those colonial marines are a tough bunch, and I am not sure I want to face them alone. You wouldn't believe some of the stories I have heard."

Petrov consulted his link to check on the time, totally missing the humour in her voice. "She won't be arriving for another three hours, that is plenty of time. I will meet you back on the Rasputin before she arrives."

"Fine," the Captain said. "Enjoy yourself then Commander. I might even do a little shopping myself on the way back to the shuttle bay. It seems the easiest way to get through this crowd."

Petrov laughed at that, and then the two officers separated, Petrov heading back down the main passageway towards the shop he had noticed before, while Susan began picking her way through the crowd of shoppers and passengers. As she made her way through the crowd, she took the opportunity to examine some of the stalls she was passing, although deciding firmly to avoid Centauri merchants this time.

Behind her, the two men trailing her hesitated for a moment, waiting for Commander Petrov to move away before continuing their pursuit. They had waited patiently outside the Earthforce section of the station for some time until Ivanova returned from her meeting, before returning to their task as if they had never stopped, once again careful to stay just far enough behind the Captain so they would not be noticed.

* * *

Susan had spent the past half hour searching fruitlessly through the various shops located along the walls of the station for something to catch her interest. She had found very little that interested her though, and certainly nothing she would consider buying, even just to get rid of some of the credits that were collecting in her account. Finally dismissing the whole idea of shopping as a big waste of time she set off for the shuttle bay, again passing through the main embarkation terminal for liners leaving the station. For some reason she had the unfortunate timing to again be passing just when one of the huge interstellar lines was boarding, this one bound for Vega Colony.

Struggling past the crowd of passengers she suddenly heard a female voice from somewhere behind her all out her name. "Captain Ivanova," the woman shouted, drawing the attention of others in the crowd who had heard of her. She didn't look back, thinking that the woman who had called out was probably just someone who had seen her on ISN and now wanted to meet her. Susan walked on, ignoring the stares of the passengers in the terminal who suddenly realised who she was and hoping that whoever had called out to her would take the hint and go away. She could see the dark doorway that led into the shuttle bay just ahead and if she could just reach it then she would be free of this crowd and on her way back to her ship.

"Captain Ivanova," the voice called out again, this time a lot closer. With a sigh of annoyance Susan looked around, and soon spotted an overweight, middle-aged woman barrelling her way through the crowd towards her, clutching a thin, official looking, black briefcase beneath one arm. Susan almost groaned, wondering what she was needed for now. She only hoped it wasn't anything to time consuming, and certainly nothing that made her late for her lunchtime meal for a second time in two days.

The woman finally managed to break through the crowd of humanity and came up to Susan, panting slightly at the exertion of pushing her way through the crowded embarkation terminal. She the plump look of someone who did not get a lot of exercise, and her pale skin seemed to indicate to Susan that she had not spent a lot of time outdoors and probably far too much time working in an office. Susan looked down at her with a questioning glare as the woman shuffled through some papers that she had just pulled out of the briefcase, unaware of the Captain's annoyance at her presence.

"Captain Ivanova," she asked again, trying to balance her briefcase in one hand and the thick wad of papers in the other. "I was wondering if I might have a small amount of your time. There is a proposition that my employer want to offer you, one I assure you is very beneficial for you."

"I am not interested," Susan said, thinking immediately that this woman must be some sort of reporter after another interview. Already the mention of her name was getting her strange looks from the crowd. A couple, especially on the faces of some of the Earth Alliance troops heading off planet, were less than friendly. Susan didn't really want to spend any longer here than she had already if she could help it. She cast a glance towards the open doors leading into the shuttle bay, hoping the woman would take the hint and leave.

"But Captain," the woman continued, oblivious to Susan's impatience and growing annoyance. "It is a very lucrative offer, and after all you could not afford to set up a new mining operation yourself. My employer has prepared a quite lucrative offer for you, more than generous I think."

Now Susan was confused, especially with the mention of setting up a new mining operation. Noticing a symbol on the briefcase, she looked closer and saw it was an emblem of one of Earth's major corporations. "What does Futurecorp want with me," She asked cautiously. "I can't think of anything I have that you could want. It is not like I actually own anything of importance."

The woman looked around at the crowd as Susan mentioned the name of her employer. "Umm perhaps we could go somewhere a little less crowded to discuss this Captain."

"Very well," Susan said, spotting a small cafe near the exit to the shuttle bay that looked like it had a couple of empty tables. She grabbed the woman by the arm, dragged her across the crowded embarkation terminal, and deposited her in a chair next to an empty table. Then pulling up another chair for herself, she sat down and began to watch the woman carefully as she searched through the jumbled papers.

Then finally finding the right one she placed it carefully in front of Susan so the Earthforce Captain could examine it. Attached to the page was a slim business card with the woman's picture on it, proclaiming her as Julia Morris, lawyer for Futurecorp's Mars division. Hesitantly, Susan picked it up and after turning it around the right way, quickly read the page. It seemed to be an offer of a very large number of credits indeed for the mining rights to a planet called Arisia 3. The name was strangely familiar to Susan, but she couldn't remember where she had heard it before. Obviously, she must have heard it mentioned sometime in the past, but its location didn't come to mind straight away.

"What the hell has this to do with me," she snapped, thinking that the woman must have confused her with someone else. "I certainly don't remember owning mining rights to a planet, let alone Arisia 3, wherever that is. In fact, I don't own any planets, or moons, or even asteroids, not a single one."

The woman looked concerned for a moment, as if worried that she may have made a mistake. Then she quickly scanned some other papers she had pulled from her briefcase before replying. "Well according to the Earth Alliance records you do. It says right here that the mining lease for Arisia 3 is currently held by Cole Mining, of which you are listed as the sole surviving director."

Susan felt her heart almost stop for a moment at the mention of the company's name. She realised at once that it must have belonged to Marcus, but wondered why he had never mentioned to her that he owned a mining company. He had always told her that he had grown up on a mining colony and worked there, but never mentioned that his family had owned it, although the name of the company left know doubt now of that fact. She felt cold, not wanting to dishonour his memory by selling off his few possessions; especially possessions that she didn't even know existed.

Then she thought, wondering exactly how she came to be a director and her thoughts turned to anger as she realised that Marcus must have left it to her after his death. She was furious at him for doing so without asking her first. She didn't want his company, or anything that had belonged to him. They all seemed worthless without him, and there was no way any of them could bring him back.

Then, noticing that the Futurecorp Lawyer was still waiting for an answer, she said, "I think there must be some sort of mistake, I never knew I was a director or even that the company existed."

"Then you will sell," the woman asked a little too eagerly, obviously anxious to close the deal. Susan began to grow very suspicious about the whole situation, now wondering exactly what Futurecorp's interest in the planet was. "What exactly does your company want with Arisia 3," she asked. "I didn't know you were into mining."

"Well, it is quite simple really Captain Ivanova. Arisia 3 has a relatively high concentration of Quantium 40, which has become very valuable commodity due to the shortage after the recent war. Futurecorp wants to set up a mining operation there, as part of our off world expansion program. If we act quickly to capitalise on this shortage, we can use the sale of the Quantium 40 to fund virtually our entire expansion program. Of course, do so we would need to have the mining lease for Arisia 3 first."

"I see," Susan replied coldly. "Well I do need to speak to at least one other person first, because I can discuss this further. This is actually the first I have heard of this planet, so I need to check up on a few details before I can give you an answer."

"Of course Captain there is no hurry, although I understand that you will be departing Mars shortly, so if possible we would like to have an answer before you leave. Arisia 3 is only our preferred site, there are two other planets we are considering, but obviously as it is the only one located within territory claimed by the Earth Alliance it is our favourite. "

Susan nodded before excusing herself from the table and walking quickly over to the counter where the owner of the cafe sat reading a local newspaper. "Do you have an interstellar link here?" She asked.

The balding, middle-aged man looked up from his paper to eye her uniform for a moment then inclined his head toward a vid screen on the other side of the cafe. "Twenty-fire credits connection fee, then standard per minute rates," he said as Susan strode off.

Susan slid her credit chits into the reader just below the vid screen and then requested a link back to the Rasputin, inputting her personal code when requested. The screen went black for a moment and then after displaying the Earthforce logo for several seconds the screen cleared to show the pretty face of Lieutenant Heneker, her communications officer. "Captain, what can I do for you?" the junior officer asked, a little curious to see Susan using a public line instead of an official Earthforce link.

Susan informed her of what she wanted and hiding her surprise the lieutenant issued the necessary commands to the Rasputin's communications suite to re-route the call. Susan waited, drumming her fingers on the console as she waited for the link to Babylon 5 to connect. She could, of course, have just linked directly to Babylon 5 from the vid phone she was standing next to, but coming from an Earth Alliance destroyer it was more likely to get through, besides it was considerably cheaper, especially considering the high price of interstellar calls.

After nearly ten seconds, the EA logo faded again and a familiar face filled the screen. "Commander… I mean Captain Ivanova," Lieutenant Corwin gasped in surprise. Then regaining his composure he said, "What can I do for you Captain?"

Susan smiled at Corwin, pleased that he was on duty and not someone she wasn't familiar with, or even worse her replacement. He had been constant fixture in Babylon 5's command and control during her time there, and she knew he could be trusted. "Is President Sheridan available at the moment Lieutenant?"

"Just a moment Captain I will check." Corwin quickly placed a call through to Sheridan and then after receiving confirmation that the President of the Interstellar Alliance was free to accept the message from Ivanova he turned back to the screen. "I am just relaying your call now Captain. Oh and Captain, it is good to see you again."

"Thanks Lieutenant," Susan said as his face faded and she had to wait again for several seconds until the tired features of John Sheridan appeared on her screen. "John, you look like hell."

"Susan," he said, obviously pleased to here from her at last. "How are you, we haven't heard from you since you left, and frankly we were getting a bit worried."

"I am fine John," she said. "Unfortunately this isn't really a personal call. There is something I need to ask you, about Marcus."

At the mention of the dead ranger John saw a shadow pass across her face for an instant. "What is it Susan?"

"Um this is a little difficult," She said, still not sure how to ask him what she needed to know. "It is about his mining company, it seems he left it to me, and now I am being chased around Mars by lawyers wanting to buy it off me."

Sheridan looked a little guilty for a moment, "he didn't tell you that he was the director of Cole Mining? I thought he had."

Susan shook her head. "All I knew was that he had been bought up on a mining colony with his family and brother. I didn't know that his family company owned the entire colony. He was a ranger; they aren't supposed to be rich are they? I especially didn't know that he was going to leave it all to me, I certainly didn't ask him to."

"It was his wish Susan. He knew he was going to die so he made a will leaving everything to you. I tried to get in touch with you after we found his message, but you were already gone, and frankly you haven't been easy to find since, in fact impossible to find would be more accurate. I left you several messages…"

Susan looked angry as she thought about this, "well I didn't ask him for it John. I didn't ask him to leave his company to me, or to give up his life for me. Surely there is someone else, family or something like that."

Sheridan shook his head sadly, "no, he was the only member of his family left, the rest were dead. I searched around thoroughly after his death, and after you left, to see if I could find anyone who might have been related to him, but there was no one. His brother was Marcus' last living relative and he died when the Shadows attack their mining colony."

Susan was just about to respond, she caught the sound of a high-pitched whine coming from the other side of the café. She stiffened, realising that the familiar sound that was made by only one thing she knew. It was the sound of the power cap of a PPG weapon being activated.

Sheridan noticed the sudden change in her posture and was about to ask her what was wrong with the normal sounds of a busy café were broken by the harsh screech of automatic PPG weapons. Susan spun around just in time to see four men clad in long dark overcoats begin firing multiple bursts of super-heated plasma across the terminal and into the crowded café, straight towards the table were the Futurecorp lawyer awaited her return.

The lawyer had seen them before Susan had though and had already ducked down behind the relative security of the metal table before the men had fired. As the four men approached closer, she had pushed it over, forming a temporary barrier against the plasma blasts. Susan, who was standing in the open next to the phone suddenly realised that she was exposed and before the men could turn their guns on her dived towards the floor. She moved just in time as a withering hail of PPG blast impacted against the wall behind her, before shattering the vid screen she had just been using and showering her with fragments of glass and hot metal.

Smelling something burning, Susan looked down and saw that several shards of smouldering metal had landed on her leg and were burning through her thick uniform. She quickly brushed them away, somehow managing to avoid burning her hand in the process. Realising that she was still exposed, she dropped to the floor again and rolled as fast as she could towards the far corner and the large wooden counter that the owner had been sitting behind earlier. It looked solid enough to withstand even the strongest PPG blast, especially since the weapons were specifically designed to cut through flesh, not wood and metal.

The sounds of men and woman screaming cut into the noise of the weapons fire, and Susan heard several of the screams cut off suddenly and knew that people were dying in the exposed café. She risked a quick glance around the corner of the counter and saw the weapons fire cut down another of the cafe's patrons, a young girl, probably on her first trip from Earth. The gunmen did not discriminate though, and the girl was cut down just as callously as they were shooting everyone else. As the girl fell to the floor, smoke spiralling up for her left leg Susan realised that whoever these men were they did not seem at all concerned about who they killed, so unless she could stop them, or at least survived long enough for security to arrive then she would be just as dead as the others.

Looking behind the overturned metal table Susan could see that the lawyer, Julia Morris was still alive, and somehow had managed to get her hands on a weapon, a small PPG pistol that she now clutched in trembling hands. Susan realised that the lawyer must have had been carrying the gun on her, and wondered if she had expected this sort of trouble all along. Julia turned a looked over at her for a moment, the lawyer's face reflecting the fear that she also felt.

Then the lawyer suddenly stood and sent several blasts of energy from her own gun flying across the café towards the gunmen. They spotted her, and somehow managed to move even before she fired, ducking beneath the shots, which and been fired wildly. One of the lawyer's shots even clipped on of the civilians who were running across the terminal in a desperate attempt to avoid the gunfight, although the man did not appear to be badly wounded and he rolled clear.

Glancing around the corner of the counter again, Susan was surprised to see that there were still several others alive inside the café, mostly crouched down behind tables like the lawyer. She then locked eyes with the café owner who was hunkered down behind a small chair, which did not seem to offer his large frame much protection at all. He noticed her staring and then made a snap decision to join her, in a far more secure position that his current hiding place.

A large burly man of about fifty, he threw himself across the floor, sliding across the polished tiles in an attempt to reach the relative safety of the counter. He didn't make it though, as three shots from one of the attacker's guns caught him in mid leap, blasting smoking holes straight thought his body. By the time his body had smashed through a nearby table slid across the floor to come to a rest near Susan's feet he was already dead, great smoking holes in his chest and head pouring his blood out onto the tiled floor.

Susan turned away, nausea rising in her throat. She was used to cold, calculated dance between warring starships and fighters, but it was rare that she faced death up close like this. The sight of the innocent man dying at her feet sickened her, and she crouched even lower, hoping the assailants would not see her. For the moment they seemed busy trading shots with the lawyer, but Susan knew by the way they had slaughtered the other cafe patrons they would probably come after her next. She almost screamed out her frustration, trapped here and unable to do anything to save those still left alive, or to save herself.

Then she spotted it, hanging just underneath the edge of the counter. It was ancient, definitely illegal, and possibly non-functional, but it was still a weapon. Carefully, so not to attract attention to herself she eased the old laser rifle out of the clips that held it in place and cradling the heavy weapon in her hands she checked to make sure it still worked. It was at least fifty years old, and some time in the distant past someone had shortened the barrel, cutting its effective range, and the power of its blast, but it looked like it still functioned.

She turned the weapon over in her hands and noticed that the power indicator showed the weapon was nearly empty, probably giving her at most about three or four shots. Susan ran her hands along the weapon before finding the button that switched between automatic and single-shot. Pressing it, she changed the weapon mode to single-shot. She released that a single burst of automatic fire would do no good here, not with an almost depleted weapon. She would have to pick her shots carefully, and make every one count.

A blast of plasma hit the counter she was hidden behind and she could smell the acrid taint of smoke begin to fill the air, indicating that the counter or something else close by had probably caught fire. Gritting her teeth, Susan gripped the rifle tightly in her hands and prepared to go into battle. She could still hear the occasional shot being fired from the small pistol the lawyer had pulled from her bag, so was relieved that at least the other woman was still alive, and still fighting back.

Then, with a loud battle cry, she leapt up from behind the counter, levelling the rifle out in front of her and targeting the nearest enemy and squeezing off two shots. The four gunmen, surprised by her sudden appearance, did not even have time to react, or move, before she had cut one of them down with the wide bolts of burning energy from the archaic weapon. It was her only victory, however, as the remaining gunmen ducked and then began to target her hiding place and the counter resounded to several hits, luckily still holding firm.

Cursing, Susan examined the weapon. Its power indicator had now slid down to empty, and it was unlikely that she could manage to wrest another shot out of it. Still one of the men was down, possibly dead, and she could only hope that Ms. Morris was able to hold off the others with her pistol, at least until station security arrived. Susan knew they could not be far off away and that they would not ignore the sounds of a gun battle going on in their station. It was now just a matter of staying alive until they arrived.

The heavy wood counter, probably a family heirloom of it's now dead owner was then rocked with multiple plasma blasts, striking with deadly accuracy on the section damaged in the previous exchange of fire. This time the plasma soon cut through the wood and left it smouldering and afire, while the woman it protected was becoming increasingly exposed to the withering fire the gunmen were pouring towards her. Susan crouched as low as she could and tried to move away, towards the corner of the café. She hoped that the gunmen did not spot her movement, and would continue to fire on the counter, as every second she gained was another one that she would remain alive.

As she shuffled backwards, Susan saw the Futurecorp lawyer jump to her feet and try to run in the direction of the open doors leading out of the terminal and onto the relative safety of the waiting liner. She tried to call out to her, to warn her to stay where she was, but it was too late. The weapons of the three remaining gunmen suddenly came around and the bolts of plasma they fired tore through the lawyer's body, throwing her into the air, and depositing her nearly two metres away, right next to the doors she had been attempting to reach.

Susan bit her lip and tried not to cry out, knowing that the gunmen would probably turn their attention towards her again now. However, the gunmen were hesitating, hearing the sounds of a large number of booted feet approaching down the main corridor. They glanced at each other and then leapt to their feet and ran together towards the open doorway leading out of the terminal. One of the men paused only briefly to tug a small spherical object off his belt and toss it towards the smoking ruins of a café and then he too continued to flee.

The small object flew through the air until it hit the edge of the counter Susan was hiding behind, bouncing off the charred wood and landing on the floor with a clatter, before rolling beneath the upturned table where she had been sitting with the lawyer just minutes earlier. Peaking out around the edge of the counter Susan's eyes focused quickly on the object, a small fusion grenade, and then just as quickly she pulled her head back around behind the counter and scanned for some way to escape.

She was too late though and the grenade exploded with a burst of white-hot energy that tore through the café, burning through the ceiling supports and anything else in its blast radius. As Susan flung herself on the ground in a vain attempt to escape the blast she felt something strike her hard on the back of her skull and then remembered nothing more, her vision becoming dim as she collapsed into peaceful oblivion.

* * *


	9. Chapter 9

* * *

On every station the size of Mars High, there were bound to be the occasional security problem, but even after the events of recent years, the station had earned a reputation as a fairly dull posting. Most of the visitors to the station did not stay long enough to cause trouble, and the rest weren't the type to cause trouble. Even during the fighting of the Mars rebellion and President Clark's declaration of martial law, the station had been secure and relatively peaceful, and since the recent granting of independence to the colony it had been downright dull, not that those stationed there minded much.

For Security Chief Frank Cox however the station was about to become a lot more interesting than he was used to. He was sleeping peacefully in his quarters, enjoying a pleasant dream about a New Vegas showgirl that he had met during a recent leave period when the loud klaxon of the security alarm broke into his peaceful slumber and rudely summoned him to the far end of the station. Complaining bitterly about the lack of consideration for his sleep, he had dragged himself out of his quarters, quickly dress, and headed across the station towards Embarkation Terminal Alpha, where the emergency was supposed to be taking place.

He knew that the station-wide alarm would not have been sounded unless something very bad indeed had occurred, but even realising this he was unprepared for what he encountered. The place looked like a war zone, with an entire section of the terminal from the shuttle bay doors to the main liner embarkation gate torn up, and in some places still burning freely. Milling around the destruction was what looked like an entire regiment of Earth Alliance ground troops, not to mention the hundreds of curious bystanders. Cox could see only a few splashes of grey in the mix, indicating that his security force was hopelessly outnumbered. Still there did not seem to be any fighting or rioting going on, which had been Cox's first thoughts when he had spotted the crowd. Instead, they all seemed to be gathered around what was left of Stefano's Cafe, which had until now been one of his favourite haunts when off duty.

Pushing his way through the crowd, he soon fought his way to where his men, assisted by a few of the Earthforce soldiers, had established a perimeter around the cafe. Up close the devastation looked even worse, although he noted that whatever had caused it only seemed to have damaged the cafe, while the restaurant next to it was still intact. Dead and wounded were scattered across the floor, from a young woman lying in front of the open shuttle bay door to several men and woman now being carried away by a medical team just in front of him. At least they were still alive, but Cox could see they had been badly wounded, and his eyes narrowed when he realised that their injuries were from weapons fire and not a result of the destruction of the café.

Spotting his second, Belinda Kidd valiantly trying to direct the whole security operation on her own, he pushed his way past the perimeter and out into the chaos. "What's going on here Belinda," he asked, speaking loudly to get above the din the crowd was making.

The young security officer looked extremely pleased to see him, and rushed over to greet him, dodging the chunks of burnt metal that lay scattered across the once clean floor. "It's bad chief, looks like someone decided to hold a private war in the cafe. We have at least five dead, and ten wounded. And those are only the ones we have found, there could still be more under that wreckage over there."

Cox looked in the direction of the ruined cafe and saw that much of the roof had collapsed, and that collapse seemed to be responsible for much of the destruction he could see. "Was it some kind of a bomb?" he asked, still wondering what exactly could have caused the damage and deaths he was seeing.

Belinda shrugged helplessly. "We don't know chief. Early reports I heard indicated that there was a gun battle going on, but one of the GROPOS said it was caused by a fusion grenade. We still don't know if anyone is left alive underneath that mess."

"Well we had better find out then. Get me a scanner team, and some extinguishers. I want those fires out and the whole place scanned for life forms. Also, get them to scan for any more bombs or weapons that might be hidden down there. I will try and clear this area a little so we have space to work."

Pleased to finally have someone directing the chaotic rescue efforts, Belinda rushed off to find the nearest scanner team, leaving Cox to try to bring some order to the station again. Noticing a high-ranking Earthforce officer standing nearby he quickly collared him, and after a quick discussion drafted his soldiers into security to help clear curious civilians and reporters away from the ruined cafe.

With the soldiers now assisting security instead of hanging around watching Cox and his men soon had the terminal cleared, and the civilians and reporters pushed back to a workable distance, although the two men from the local news network were most insistent that they be allowed to remain. Cox eventually settled for their recorders being allowed to float above the cafe and observe the clean up operation, but only as long as the reporters themselves stayed well away.

This done Cox looked again over the shattered ruins of Stefano's Cafe and groaned, realising that he was now going to have to find another place to spend his time off. He only hoped that Eric Stefano was still alive, he had become quite fond of the old rogue. He was about to turn to his men and issue orders for start of the search for any more survivors when he suddenly felt as though someone was watching him very closely indeed. It was a strange feeling, almost a tingle in the back of his neck, but Frank Cox had made a living out of trusting his feelings and spun around to examine the crowd.

He didn't see anything at first, but then he noticed a black-uniformed figure pushing his way through the crowds towards the liner terminal. The figure turned back to face Cox and the security chief saw the Psi-Corps symbol stuck firmly to the front of the black uniform and realised that the man was most likely a Psi-Cop. He was just about to go over and ask the Psi-Cop exactly what he was doing here when one of his men called to him from the ruined cafe. He glanced away for only an instant, but by the time he had turned back, the telepath was gone. Cox shrugged, dismissing the encounter, and went over to address his men. He was a little concerned about the Psi-Cop's presence and wondered if he had been scanned and if so, why? The security chief couldn't think of a good reason why anyone would be interested in the contents of his mind at a time like this though, so he dismissed the encounter as unimportant.

* * *

Thousands of kilometres away from the station and the unfolding drama, Doctor Nathan Kozlowski was returning to his quarters deep in the bowels of the engineering section of the EAS Rasputin. As was his habit, he had taken a fair portion of his work with him, his arms laden with printouts from the latest tests he had been conducting on the warship's systems. Trying to hold on the printouts and push open the door to his quarters was quite a task, but the doctor eventually managed it, balancing the printouts with one hand and tapping the door control, then quickly pulling his hand back to steady the teetering pile.

Walking through the now open door, he headed for his desk and dropped the printouts in the centre, then walked across the room to feed his goldfish, which was still swimming around its small bowel in never-ending circles. He was just tapping a few flakes of fish food into the water when a puzzled frown spread across his face.

"Glow?" he said to himself. "I don't have anything there that should glow."

He turned back to his desk, and sure enough, there was a dim purple glow creeping out from beneath the pile of printouts. Curious, the doctor carefully picked up the printouts and moved them to one side, exposing a small spherical object glowing with a faint inner light. He looked puzzled again for a moment, but then remember what it was. He had picked it up during a holiday in the Vega system, a perfectly spherical white stone about the size of his clenched fist. He had kept it as a curiosity and later used it as a paperweight, but it had certainly never glowed before.

With another puzzled frown, picked up screwdriver he had left on his desk and tapped the sphere. He quickly jumped back and dropped the tool as a spark of purple lightning leapt arced between the two. "Hmm, now that is interesting," he muttered to himself. "A self-contained power source perhaps. I wonder why I didn't detect it before. Very interesting indeed." Rubbing his slightly scorched fingers, the doctor fumbled around for his scanner, eager to investigate his new discovery.

* * *

Awareness returned to her slowly. At first there was nothing but darkness, an all encompassing darkness that held her tightly, almost as though it did not want to ever let her go. Then came the faint whiff of something wonderful in the air, and the touch of a gentle breeze on her face. The darkness still held her though, still dragged her downwards into the black pit of her soul. Then she felt the warmth, and began to shy away from the cold that was all the darkness could offer. Gasping and scratching she fought her way, up out of the pit and into the warmth of consciousness once more.

With the mightiest of efforts Susan managed to force open her eyes, at first only the tinniest amount, but enough to look around and she looked straight into the brightness of a powerful light shining down on her. As she watched it grew even brighter, washing away the shadows of the darkness that had gripped her and making her feel more at peace than she had ever felt before.

She breathed in, only a little breath, but enough to bring to her senses the wonderful smell of flowers floating in the breeze. Susan was immediately reminded of the time, long, long ago when her mother had taken her on a spring picnic, and they had sat among the flowers and fed the birds. It was one of her most pleasant memories, from a time before the painful existence that was her life now had begun. For some reason, this pleasant memory remained in her mind as she wearily dragged her eyes open and looked around her in confusion.

Gone were the stained walls of the cafe, the dead bodies, and the twisted and burning wreckage that had been her last vision before the grenade went off. Instead, in it's place, was a vast field of flowers, reaching out to the horizon and beyond. She breathed again, and the wonderful array of smells floating in the air seemed to refresh her, taking away her pain and tiredness, and leaving her restored and more alive than she had felt in over twenty years.

She closed her eyes for a second and rubbed them with the back of her hands; as if to try to dispel the illusion she was sure she was seeing. When she opened them though, the field was still there, and she could still smell the fresh scent of flower pollen. A cool breeze brushed across her, only touching her for an instant but leaving her entire body tingling at its passing. Curious she stood up and brushed down the soft, silky cloth of her robe, removing the tiny fragments of grass and flower petals that had stuck there.

'Robe?' she thought suddenly, looking down at her body for the first time since awakening. To her surprise, her Earthforce uniform was gone and in its place was a flowing robe of wispy golden material. It was perhaps the most beautiful article of clothing she had even seen, and as she ran a fold of the gown between her fingers, she could barely even feel it. Also gone was the rest of her clothing, including her boots and belt so she now stood barefoot on the peaceful field of flowers.

She wiggled her toes, and was amazed at how wonderful the flowers felt beneath her feet. For a brief moment, she was transported back to her childhood and that one fine spring day when she had played in a field just like this. Then she remembered that her mother had been with her that day and the comfort of the memory fled and she felt again the pain that her mother's suicide had caused her. A single tear rolled halfway down her cheek before she brushed it away and tried to think of pleasant thoughts once again.

Susan looked out over the empty field once more, but this time she noticed something that had not been there before, a bright light in the distance. It was strange; she had never seen its like before, yet somehow it felt familiar and somehow comforting. As she watched, the light seemed to move towards her, faster than she would have though possible. It was as if time slowed down, her movements became sluggish, while those of the light seemed unhindered. Then it was in front of her, and Susan realised that she recognised the being of light that now floated in the air before her.

She had seen just such a being before, as it rescued Captain Sheridan from certain death as he fell from the destroyed core shuttle on Babylon 5 towards certain death in the garden's below. "Kosh?" Susan asked cautiously, still not really believing what was in front of her was real, certain that she was only dreaming.

"Yes… Kosh…" the angelic being said softly in a voice that flowed about Susan like music carried by the breeze, and bringing with it the sounds of tiny bells and birds singing.

Susan didn't notice the musical nature of Kosh's voice, instead just his words. "Why are you here? I thought you were dead."

"I have always been here, you have not listened to the song until now."

Susan looked in annoyance at the floating Vorlon. Even in death Kosh's words continued to remain as perplexing as ever. "Does that mean I am dead as well?" she asked.

"Perhaps," Kosh answered, although this time Susan had the distinct impression that the Vorlon was uncertain. Before she could press the issue, he continued. "All life is an illusion."

"What do you mean," she asked, determine to find out what had happened to her. "Am I dead or not?"

"You do not understand," was the only response.

"Of course I don't understand," she shouted as his anger began to rise up within her. "That is why I am asking you."

The angelic form before her did not seem perturbed in any way by her angry tone and just looked at her intently. "It is good that you do not understand," Kosh said finally.

"But I want to understand."

"Of course," Kosh replied. "That is good, I have chosen well."

"What do you mean chosen?" Susan asked, suddenly suspicious.

A shiver seemed to pass through the being before her and his light dimmed for a moment before returning. "Time is short little singer," Kosh said. "I must leave you soon."

"Wait," Susan cried. "At least tell what the hell is going on."

"A choice."

"What choice?"

The angelic being's light dimmed again, and this time did not return as bright as before. "You stand at a crossroads," Kosh said softly, his voice fading along with his light. "You must choose between light and darkness, peace and war, security and hope, safety and pain. You must choose to remain silent, or to follow the song. You must choose the past or the future."

"That doesn't help much!"

The Vorlon did not reply immediately, instead it stared off into the distance as if looking at something on the horizon she could not see. "I cannot teach you the song," Kosh said at last. "You must learn the notes yourself."

"What song!" Susan demanded.

Rather than reply, Kosh instead reached out and took her hands in his, and she felt warmth passing from the Vorlon into her. Suddenly she began to hear voices, strong and loud, and all around her. They echoed in her head, so loud they began to feel painful. They also made little sense, nothing more than a jumbled collection of words, as though a thousand people were all speaking at once, and all at the same volume so none could be understood.

She screamed out in pain as the noise from the voices grew in volume and tried to pull her hand from Kosh's grasp, sure that he was responsible. The Vorlon did little except float there in front of her and watch her reaction. His grasp remained firm though and try as she might she could not free herself. The voices now felt like hammer blows against her skull and under this sustained pressure Susan soon began to lose consciousness.

* * *

"Chief," called out the head of the scanner crew. "We are picking up something in here, it looks like we might have a survivor."

Security Chief Cox exploded into action, jumping across the nearest pile of wreckage to land beside the scanner crew. The man in charge of the scanner quickly showed him the reading and he saw that they were correct. Despite the destruction, they had indeed found someone alive, although whomever it was had been trapped at the very bottom of the pile of rubble the café had become.

"Great work guys," he said, already thinking of the coverage the rescue would get on the local networks, with any luck he might even get on ISN. "Ok, lets get the rest of the crew in here and stabilise this area so we can start clearing away the rubble. We don't want another collapse so be as careful."

As soon as he had issued his orders, several teams of station maintenance personal and security officers arrived with large braces to prop up what remain of the roof and prevent any further collapses. They worked as fast and as carefully as they could, and within two minutes had the entire section secure, at least as secure as it was going to get. Now that it was safe to do so Cox ordered in the rescue teams, while he kept an eye on the scanner, hoping they would be able to reach whoever was trapped down there in time.

He was about to join in the rescue effort when he suddenly heard a scrapping noise from somewhere above him. The security chief quickly scanned the ceiling, searching for anything that might have slipped. He could see nothing though, everything still looked secure and safe. Dismissing the noise, he returned to the work at hand, hoping all the while that the rest of the ceiling would not come crashing down on him while he was dragging away a piece of wreckage. While that was one way to get on the news networks, it wasn't the one Frank Cox wanted.

* * *

As she fell backwards, Kosh released her hand and the voices ended almost immediately. Susan managed to hang on to a thread of consciousness and kneeling on the ground, she rubbed her temples to try to ease the painful headache that she felt developing. To her surprise, her ministrations worked and the pain she felt throbbing through her head began to ease.

"What was that," she demanded, brushing her long hair back out of her face and standing before the Vorlon more.

The Vorlon ignored her question, staring into the distance once more. "Can you fight the pain?" Kosh asked, turning back to face her. "Is it even worth fighting? You must decide is your life worth such pain."

"You're not Kosh!" Susan said suddenly, before realising that she didn't know where that sudden insight had come from.

The being that had taken the form of Kosh looked pleased. "No little singer, I am no Vorlon."

"Who are you then?"

"I am… I am not like you. I followed the song and it bought me here. Now I am here when I want to be there. I was the conductor, now I am a prisoner… and a guide. You must heed my warning if you wish to survive this day."

"I would if I knew what you meant."

The being looked at Susan sadly, "If you do not understand then you will die. My time here is nearly past and soon darkness and pain will come. You must fight and defeat it if your song is to survive."

"Fight?" Susan said looking around her, "but how, I have nothing to fight with."

The angelic being before her was now fading away, disappearing into thin air. "My time is over," it whispered. "This is your song now and you alone many choose the notes to play. Survive and we may speak again."

With that final message the other being vanished and Susan was left alone on the field of flowers. Standing alone once again, she pondered the strange message that Kosh, or rather whatever had taken Kosh's form, had delivered to her. She did not notice that the once bright sunny day was beginning to fade as dark clouds began to fill the sky. It was not until the first drops of icy, cold rain struck her cheeks that she noticed the change. Looking around she was surprised to find that it was growing darker by the minute, and beneath her feet the flowers that had so enchanted her when she had first arrived in this place were beginning to die.

* * *

Nathan Kozlowski sighed in disappointment as the glow faded from his sphere. He had finally found his scanner under his bed and now it had stopped glowing, right before he could get any readings. Picking up his screwdriver again, he tapped the sphere gingerly, ready to leap away if there was another spark of lightning. However, this time nothing happened, and Kozlowski sighed again. He activated the scanner and passed it over the sphere, but not a single abnormality registered.

Annoyed, he began to wonder if the object had switched itself off just to spite him. He tapped it with the screwdriver again, this time a little harder, but still there was no response. After running the scanner over it several more times, and tapping it with larger and increasingly heavier tools, he finally came to the conclusion that it may just have exhausted its internal power supply. He picked up a small laser cutting tool from his tool bench, determined to investigate this strange sphere further, even if it meant cutting it open to take a look at its internal workings.

* * *

The wind, which had once been a gentle breeze, now began to grow in strength and bring with it a chill that cut straight through her thin robe, leaving her cold and shivering. Susan looked around for somewhere to hide from the coming storm, but couldn't find a single tree, cave, or other shelter. With a sudden feel of horror, she realised that the plain she was standing on was slowly being eaten up by the darkness. Already the horizon had disappeared and the darkness was gathering around her in a circle, a circle that was quickly growing smaller and smaller as each second passed.

It took only seconds before the entire plain was gone, and the icy darkness had surrounded her. Then the very ground beneath her feet seemed to vanish as well and she could see nothing and could feel nothing except the chill in the air. Susan felt very alone, more alone than she had ever been before, almost as though she was the only creature in the universe. She suddenly craved someone else, anyone, so she would have someone to talk to, or someone to assure her that she still existed.

As soon as she felt this craving, a bright flare of red light erupted in the darkness above her and began to move towards her with frightening speed. The red light soon revealed itself as a vortex of some kind, similar to a jump point into hyperspace. This vortex did not have a warm orange colour she associated with hyperspace though, rather it was an angry red, shot with withering bolts of intense darkness, and Susan was being drawn towards it. She tried to fight, but there was nothing to hold onto, nowhere to hide, and so she was pulled through with almost no resistance possible on her part.

Once through the vortex, Susan was thrown to the ground, which appeared to have reappeared, and hit the now rocky surface with a heavy thump. Small stones and rock scratched at her and she felt pain. For some reason though, no cuts or other injuries appeared on her flesh. Her eyes flickered for a moment as she fought to recover from the pain of landing on the rocky ground and then she noticed that light had returned, although this time it was not the bright, warm glow of a summer sun, but rather an evil reddish light that seemed to filter down from somewhere far above her.

Susan pulled herself back to her feet and then shuffled backward as she realised that she now stood on a narrow ledge overlooking a very deep chasm that plunged into the darkness far below her. She risked a quick look but could see no signs of a bottom to the chasm, or any hand holds for her to use to climb down. As she looked up she could see none above her either, although the top of the mountain or wherever she now was seemed to be surrounded by a red mist, similar in colour to the vortex or portal that had just snatched her our of the darkness that had engulfed moments ago.

As a cold wind began to pick up around her, Susan found herself shivering in fear. She still didn't know where she was, if she was dreaming, or if she was dead. If this was the afterlife then it certainly hadn't been very pleasing so far, in fact it had been downright horrible, not to mention confusing.

Looking around her, Susan searched for somewhere to go, anywhere that was away from this horrible place. She had always hated heights, and looking over the ledge only made her head swim. Then, just as she thought all was lost and she was doomed to remain her forever, Susan noticed a faint light appearing in front of her, near the ledge. It grew brighter with each passing moment and as it approached, she became aware of a person floating in the light.

"Marcus," she whispered, as the features of the figure cleared and she realised who it was.

Marcus nodded and held out his hands, as if asking Susan to join him in the light. He wore a golden robe similar to her, and the light seemed to surround him as well as supporting him in mid air. She moved to join him, put pulled up short when she reached the edge of the ledge and looked down into the chasm below.

"Jump Susan," Marcus called to her. "Join me and we can be together forever. I have come to save you, for if you stay here you will be trapped in this place for eternity."

Susan gritted her teeth and tried again to join him, only to again pull up when she reached the edge of the ledge. It still looked like too great a jump to her, and one she would never make. "It is too far," she called out to Marcus. "I can not jump that far."

"Yes you can Susan," he replied. "All you need to do is jump, I will catch you before you fall."

Susan looked over the ledge, down at the vast drop again, and shivered. Nevertheless, she resolved to do as Marcus said and steadied herself for the jump. Just as she was about to start her run, she felt a gloved hand grip her bare arm. Turning around she gasped in surprise as she looked into the eyes of Talia, who was wearing the black uniform of a Psi-Cop.

"Do not jump Susan," Talia said softly, her voice barely reaching Susan's ears above the roar of the ever-strengthening wind. "Stay here instead, I will protect you."

"Do not believe her Susan," Marcus called out. "She is an agent of darkness, trying to seduce you. Jump while you still can."

Susan turned to look at him, aware of the warmth and light radiating from the position where he floated. Talia on the other hand did not have the same warmth, and the hand she had placed on Susan's arm felt cold, even through the leather glove she wore. Despite this she was torn, not knowing whom to believe.

"Jump Susan," Marcus called again. "If you do not then you will be trapped in a world of pain forever, there will be no escape, no rescue." As if to illustrate his point Susan suddenly remembered all the times over the past thirty years when she had been hurt, all the painful relationships, and lost friends and family. The feelings of loss and pain were so intense that she almost broke down and collapsed in tears right there.

"You know what pain is like Susan, do you want to face that for eternity?" Marcus again held out his hands, as if to urge her to jump into his arms. For a moment, she was sorely tempted to do so, but before she could, Talia pulled her back again.

"I can not offer peace Susan," the telepath whispered, her voice cutting into Susan's thoughts. "I can only offer you life. If you can not face your life then you will die here."

More memories of her life began to flow about in her head and Susan grasped at them, trying to find a solution to the choice that faced her. She remembered the time she had spent with her mother, the happy life she had experienced then, and how it had been taken away from her by the Psi-Corp. How she had cried at her mother's funeral and prayed for some way for them to be together again. The painful memories continued to bombard her, only this time she also remember the good times as well, few and far apart as they may have been.

"So much pain," Marcus' voice cut into her memories. "Is it worth returning to that, to be left alone with your pain. Wouldn't it instead be better to forget the past and embrace your future, a future without pain or suffering?"

A thought cut through Susan, and she remembered how she had ended up here and whom it was that had left her alone in the universe. It had been Marcus who had given his life for her, had left her alone with the guilt and pain of his sacrifice. She turned back to look at Talia and noticed the tears running down the blonde woman's cheeks, and the sadness in her eyes. Before she could go to her though, a sudden gust of wind buffeted her and Susan was thrown back towards the edge of the chasm.

Only by reaching out with her hands Susan was just able to stop from falling to what she now realised was certain death below. Hanging from the ledge by her fingertips everything that was happening to her suddenly became clear. She knew what both Talia and Marcus were offering. The image of Marcus offered her peace, but also death, while the image Talia offered nothing more than a chance at life. Life with all it's pain and suffering was not something Susan was sure about right now, so she turned her head around to look at Marcus who still floated in the air nearby.

He had on his face a look of hope, and longing, and she knew that if she let go of the ledge as he asked then it would be over, all the pain she had suffered would be gone and she could remain forever in Marcus' arms, safe and secure. Susan realised that this must be the choice being that had taken Kosh's image had spoken off. If she went to Marcus now the she would choose peace, security, and safety. However, if instead she selected Talia then she would be condemned to continue her life of pain. She had to choose, but right now could not make the choice. She didn't know what she wanted, and was torn between the two, unable to choose either life or death.

Talia's voice dragged her away from her thoughts and she turned away from Marcus to face Talia instead. The wind was whipping through the telepath's blonde hair and ripping the tears from her eyes before they could even begin to roll down her cheeks. "Embrace the future Susan," Talia screamed, her voice only just carrying above the cyclonic winds. "Survive, and do not give in. For to surrender mean death, or something even worse than death."

"No," called Marcus, his voice still strong and firm. "Give in to peace Susan, do not follow the ways of darkness. Surrender to the light and we can be together again." The wind around them began to grow even stronger, and Susan's grip on the ledge began to slip, the rock beneath her fingertips beginning to crumble under her weight. "Let yourself fall Susan," Marcus called out to her again, this time from below her. "I will catch you, all you need to do is trust. Trust in yourself and trust in me."

Susan's fingers slipped even further and the strain of holding onto the tiny rock ledge was become almost too much for her. She looked up again, straight into the sad looking eyes of Talia. "Embrace me Susan," Talia called. Her voice now little more than a faint whisper, and had Susan not seen Talia's lips moving she would not have known that the telepath was even speaking. "I am your past, and your future. I am who you are, and who you have always been. Embrace me and be free. Surrender and die."

Torn between the two Susan was unable to make a decision. Then just as she though she might remain here forever another memory came floating to the surface. She remembered what had happened when she had been on Babylon 4, when she had seen a vision of her future. Then she had thought it nothing more than a possible future, one she could never hope would come true, but what if it was something more, a real future that hadn't happened yet. So reaching out she chose hope instead of defeat, and grabbed hold of the hand that Talia offered and allowed herself to be pulled up onto the ledge once more.

As soon as her feet were once again were firmly secure on the rocky ledge the light that had surrounded Marcus died and he vanished, as did the cold wind that had buffeted, and the darkness began to close in around her once more. She looked towards Talia, only to find that she too had vanished and in her place was a copy of Susan herself. Before she had even recovered from the surprise, the other Susan embraced her warmly.

Susan looked into her own eyes and noticed that this copy of was beginning to disappear, merging with her. She tried to pull away, but found herself stuck fast and unable to move as the copy vanished into her, becoming part of her forever. There was a sudden flash of bright light and then Susan heard a voice, her own voice echoing softly around her. "I am part of you now, as I have always been. "

She searched desperately for the source of the voice but couldn't find anything. In fact, as it had before everything around her appeared to have vanished into the darkness once more and she was alone with her own thoughts. "Beware the wolf Susan," came her own voice again, this time seeming to flow around her like a soft breeze, gently caressing her hair and face.

* * *


	10. Chapter 10

* * *

The past two minutes had seen a flurry of exhaustive activity around the site of the explosion, but it had all been worth it. The survivor was still trapped beneath the damaged counter from the café, but Security Chief Cox and his team had finally managed to remove enough of the collapsed roof to allow medical treatment. Now looking down at the woman who had been revealed Frank Cox was somewhat surprised to find that she looked familiar. Then he remembered the recent ISN broadcasts and recognised the woman as the Earthforce captain who had only yesterday taken command of the newest warship in the fleet, a warship that even now hung in space above Mars.

Cursing as he thought of what would happen to him if he allowed her to die, and the paperwork that would be involved, he signalled for his second to bring the medical scanner that she had looped in her belt. Realising that she was needed Belinda Kidd joined the chief, kneeling at the side of the trapped woman and carefully running the medical scanner across her. Then when she was sure of her readings she looked up at Cox and the rest of the rescue team standing behind him. "It looks like her life signs are stable enough, but I am getting some very erratic brainwave readings. I think it would be best if we pulled her out as soon as possible and moved her to medlab where they can take a proper look at her. If there is anything seriously wrong then they can care for her a lot better than we can out here."

Cox nodded and then stood to inform the rest of the security team what was required of them. "Ok everybody, listen up. We need some heavy lifting gear. Try looking in the shuttle bay there should be something in there. Harrison you take care of that." A middle-aged security officer near the back of the ground nodded and jogged off through the shuttle bay doors. Cox took no notice of Harrison's movement, used to having his orders carried out without question. Without stopping he continued speaking, "also someone organise a medical team to transport the injured woman medlab, we don't know what sort of injuries she might have yet. The rest of you are with me, we need to pull as much of the smaller pieces of wreckage away so there will be less to fall down and injure anyone when we lift away the big chunks."

"Yes sir," was the mechanical response from the gathered security officers as they rushed to carry out his orders. The security team began digging into the wreckage, tugging away anything small enough to be carried by hand, and Cox joined them, already imagining the interview he was going to give to the ISN reporters who would come, and the promotion that would surely follow. Of course, she had to be rescued first, and he didn't want to think what would happen to him if he let ISN's favourite hero die.

* * *

The darkness slowly faded away again and Susan found herself standing in an icy landscape. She recognised it as the flower-covered plain she had stood in before, but now everything had frozen over. A cold breeze blew out of nowhere, carrying with it the foul, icy stench of death. Susan shivered in the chilly air her thin clothing unable to keep out the cold.

A loud, evil sounding chuckle suddenly echoed all around her. She clapped her hands over her ears but that did little to block it out. Then came the voice, a horrible rasping voice that cut through what was left of her defences and reached deep into the inner reaches of her mind. "You have many surprises Captain," it said, every word striking her as a hammer might strike an anvil. "It might be worthwhile keeping you alive, I know many who would like to know how you have managed to keep it a secret for so long. However, the project must be protected, and for that you must die. This is going to hurt I am afraid, you should have taken the way I offered and not fought, now you will have to suffer for you foolishness. It is nothing personal you understand, just business. But first, let's take a look around and see what other secrets you have shall we."

Then the voice faded and Susan forced herself back to her feet, having been driven into the ground by the blinding pain each word the voice had spoken had caused her. Her head still throbbed after the hammer-like blows and she was disoriented, not knowing entirely what was going on, where she was, or even who exactly she was. The pain faded quickly though as she noticed another red vortex appearing above her, she tried to back away but it kept on coming ever closer.

Suddenly she backed into something cold and smooth. She spun around and found herself looking into a large mirror. This mirror did not reflect her image, however, instead it showed a scene of her past, a time during her academy training. Then the mirror was gone, sucked into the air and towards the vortex, but she noticed another in the distance. She ran towards it and saw another image of her past, this time a battle from the shadow war. That mirror was also dragged into the air and Susan looked around for another.

She seemed to be surrounded by mirrors, each one holding a part of her past, and they were all being slowly sucked up into the sky by the vortex, almost as though something was stealing her memories, stealing her soul. She saw a mirror that held a memory of her mother and grabbed it tight, trying to ensure that this one would not be taken from her. All around her she saw mirrors flying through the air, pulled towards the vortex by an almost irresistible force. She felt the mirror she grasped begin to shudder, as it too was caught up in the suction.

She held it even tighter, and managed to resist the suction the vortex was generating, despite the pain it was causing her. For some reason, the vortex was not taking her, just the mirrors. Then the suction died and she looked out over a barren plain of ice, still grasping the mirror with almost fanatical strength. She couldn't remember why she was holding onto the mirror any more, only that it was vitally important that she continue to hold it, and so she did.

Above her the red vortex still hung in the air, only now something seemed to be coming through, straight towards her. A massive bestial creature of some kind, many times her size and with a drooling mouth full of jagged teeth. The creature burst through the vortex and landed on the icy ground, still a fair distance from her. It was a gigantic wolf, larger than any other creature, Earth native or Alien, that she had encountered before.

She screamed and tried to run, leaping to her feet and stumbling off across the icy plain, the mirror now forgotten in her terror. She was operating on instinct alone now, and her instincts told to her to flee, to hide, and somehow escape the monster that was chasing her. The giant wolf turned in her direction and howled. It was an evil sound that ripped into her very being, and almost knocked her to the ground with its strength. Its claws tore large chunks of icy dirt from the ground as it padded after her, each step it took equal to three of her own strides.

Somewhere inside her, she heard a voice urging her to stand firm and fight, to drive off the beast, but she didn't know how, so she ran instead. Running proved to be little use though as the monstrous beast caught her and knocked her to the ground. As she lay there waiting for it to kill her, she felt it's fetid breath on her face, the warmth not providing the slightest comfort at all.

Then it struck her, a single swipe of its claw that sent her tumbling across the ground. She realised that it was playing with her, letting her live a while longer so it could enjoy the kill even more. Susan was angry at this realisation, angry that she was so helpless and that there was nothing she could do to fight back. If only she had a weapon, any weapon she could fight the wolf, make it pay for what it was about to do to her.

Then as she heard it coming towards her again she felt something by her left hand, something solid and strong. In desperation, she grasped the object and as the wolf reached her swung her hand over and smashed it in the side of the jaw with the large club she now held. The wolf gave a yelp of pain as its face was twisted sideways by the force of the blow. Susan took that opportunity to leap to her feet, the pain and helplessness now gone, replaced by the hungry flames of anger.

She swung the club again, this time striking the wolf on the shoulder, a painful blow that forced the monster to retreat a step. Then the wolf struck out again, a single claw catching her in the stomach and ribbing a gash through her flesh. It was deep wound and the pain was intense. Susan dropped the club and fell to her knees clutching her wounded stomach in her hands. The wolf came closer again and Susan could here its laughter echoing around her again, and realised that it was no longer playing. The next blow would end her life.

She was not finished yet though and fell to the ground, ducking under the wolf's jaws as they closed above her like the snap of some tremendous steel trap. She rolled across the ground to escape the wolf's reach and then pulled herself back to her feet and began running away from the monster once more. As she ran, she looked around for another weapon, a club, a knife, anything. To her surprise, she spotted the hilt of a large knife sticking out of the icy ground just in front of her, just what she had been looking for.

Leaping for the weapons, Susan just managed to avoid another lunge from the wolf, its gigantic jaws closing just behind her flying feet. She tugged the knife free from the ice and it slid out smoothly falling into her hand just in time. The wolf lunged, and again she ducked. This time, as it passed by her, she lunged out with the knife striking the wolf solidly in its side, although the weapons was pulled from her hands at the same time.

The wolf yelped again and rolled over on in the ice, knocking the blade out of the wound. Susan snarled at it in triumph, but then noticed to her horror that bloody wound on the wolf had already begun to fade, disappearing right before her eyes. "You will have to do better than that," a mocking voice taunted her as the wolf climbed back to its feet and again approached, although this time a little more carefully.

She ran her hands through the snow beneath and behind her, trying to find something, anything to strike the wolf. Her fingers closed around a metallic object, and she pulled a PPG rifle from the snow. Without pausing to wonder where it had come from, Susan began pelting the wolf with blast after blast of burning plasma.

Susan was furious now, furious that the wolf would try to kill her, and furious that she had almost given in to death. As her anger grew her mind had supplied her with the weapons to fight with, first the club, then the knife, and now the rifle. She felt the rage begin to rise within her and knew now that she would win, and the wolf would die.

Her shooting was less than accurate with most blasts striking the icy landscape instead of the wolf, but enough made it through to injure the monster. It began to change under her assault though, its skin becoming mirror-like and reflecting the plasma instead of letting it strike flesh and fur. Susan was operating of pure instinct now though, her reason and normal thought processes replaced by anger and the desperate need to survive. Realising that she could no longer hit the wolf, she instead aimed for the ground and blasted the icy landscape with burning plasma. As it melted the ice, the land beneath began to boil and bubble with the fury of her assault. The rock and dirt melted and became molten, turning into pools of lava. The wolf realised what was happening and began to breath onto the melting rock, slowly freezing the rock with its now icy breath.

It wasn't able to match Susan's fury though and the landscape continued to melt around the two combatants, changing from a plain of ice into a land of fire and fury. Terrified the wolf now tried to flee, running across the plain of ice, except it was no longer a plain of ice. Geysers of flame were bursting all around them, and Susan could see the wolf's hide begin to smoulder, and finally catch flame. The mirror-like hid shattered in the heat, exposing the vulnerable fur and flesh beneath. She did not seem effected by the fires though, and if anything they seemed to comfort her, to warm her and to protect her. She felt powerful, more powerful than she had ever thought she could feel, and began to walk across what was now a vast pool of molten lava towards the monstrous wolf. It was now trapped in the lava, slowly melting away before her eyes. Its massive paws had already sunken into the molten rock and now only its upper body and head was left, howling fruitlessly at her to stop, to release it.

Susan would not stop though and picking up handfuls of fiery lava began to pelt the creature, striking it repeatedly. The fur there caught fire, and soon the flames spread across the monster's entire body. The wolf gave one last desperate cry and then fell silent, its body now destroyed. Susan fell to her knees in the lava, and it washed up around her grasping at her and comforting her. She sobbed as waves of pain and regret washed over her. She felt awful as though she had just done something horrible, but she could not think what it could be. She grasped her head in her hands and screamed out in anguish, trying to drive away the thoughts. To her surprise, they retreated and when she opened her eyes again, she once more found herself on the peaceful flower-strewn plain.

What was left of the wolf lay on the ground in front of her, its lidless eyes looking up at her, reflecting the pain of its death. She stared down at them and then realised with horror that she was looking into a pair of human eyes, not the yellow canine eyes she had seen earlier. Gone were the greedy eyes of the hunter, and in their place were the pained eyes of a little boy, at least that was the thought that came unbidden to her.

She reached down to comfort the wolf but then leapt back as a circle of darkness suddenly opened above her. A cold wind whipped out, blowing her clothing and long hair about her, and bringing with it a fetid stench that reminded her of the wolf's breath. She backed slowly away and watched as the wind began to reverse direction and suck the remains of the wolf into the dark circle. She dug her heels into the ground and braced herself, sure that the wind was going to drag her in as well. However, it stopped as soon as it had taken the wolf's body and she found herself standing alone, her only companion the gentle breeze that flowed across the plain, slowly rustling the tall grasses, and softly kissing her face with the faint smell of flower blossom.

* * *

The large cargo lifter raised its strong metal arm and dragged the large wooden counter off the trapped woman. The counter was amazingly still relatively intact, and despite being badly damaged in the fighting and the explosion, had still managed to protect the survivor from any major injury. The lifter then backed up and took the counter with it, finally taking away the last of the obstacles that lay in the way of the rescuers. The medical team moved in quickly to take its place, eager to ensure their patient was alive and well.

Belinda Kidd was first to reach the side of the trapped woman, and quickly examined her. Belinda's father was a doctor and she had learned a lot from him, skills that came in very handy during her career in security. The medical team soon joined her, kneeling on the now exposed cafe floor to try to determine if the Earthforce captain would live.

The woman's breathing was strong and healthy, and the erratic brainwaves Belinda had noticed before were now stable and normal. One of the medical team pulled a small hypospray out of her bag and looked over at the security officer. "It looks like she is not too badly wounded, give her this and she should wake up. It would be better to have her conscious so we can determine if she has any injuries that the scanner doesn't show."

Belinda nodded and took the hypospray from the doctor. She pressed it into the woman's neck and press the activator that shot the drug through the pores in the skin and into the bloodstream.

* * *

Susan suddenly became aware of a numbers voices around her, coming from unseen sources rather than just the inside of her head. Her vision began to blur again, the grassy plain vanishing, only to be replaced by the wreckage-strewn remains of the café. She blinked and then opened her eyes and looked up into the ice blue eyes of a woman in the grey uniform of Earthforce security.

"Welcome back to the land of the living," the woman said, although Susan could only just grasp her words, her mind still a muddle of confusing images. "How do you feel?"

Susan didn't reply, but instead looked around her, wondering where she was, and trying to determine what had just happened to her. Then it came back to her, the lawyer, the call to Babylon 5, and finally the fight with the gunmen who had suddenly appeared out of the crowd. She reeled in confusion at what she saw, wondering exactly what had just happened to her, and if it had all been just a dream brought on by her injuries. There was certainly nothing now to indicate that any of what had just happened to her had been real.

Shaken to her core she tried to sit, only to be driven back as an incredibly painful headache struck her. One of the medical team noticed her pain and quickly administered a painkiller that began to ease the throbbing a little. Susan still felt as though a thousand elephants were doing the tango inside her head, and the pain only added to her confusion.

The painkiller soon took over and the pain faded, leaving behind only a dull ache somewhere behind her eyes. She bought a hand up and rubbed the spot that where the ache seemed to be worse, but it didn't seem to want to go away. Then she felt strong arms lifting her as she was lifted out of the ruins of the cafe and placed on a white stretcher the medical team had waiting for her. She wanted to protest but found her throat to dry to speak, and all that came out was a dry croak.

Then she was being carted off, into a confusing blur of unfamiliar faces that seemed to spiral around her. She looked away, watching the floor fly past instead, but that provided little comfort. She could see the covered bodies of the victims from the gun battle, still lying where they had fallen. Susan looked at the bodies with a fascinated stare, and then she noticed the cafe, or rather what was left of the cafe. She tried to raise herself into a sitting position to examine the damage, but found she had been strapped down. Her hands scrambled for the clasp of the straps, but they were gently pulled away by one of the medical team that was guiding her stretcher.

Before she could protest, she was being taken down a path that had been cleared through the crowd, past the whirring recorders of the local vid stations that floated around the scene of the explosion, and off towards the nearby medlab. Realising that struggling was getting her nowhere Susan resigned herself to her fate and let herself be dragged off for medical treatment, although at the same time resolving to be out of Medlab before the day was done.

* * *

Security Chief Frank Cox watched Captain Ivanova being taken away with a satisfied smile and began to run his speech to ISN through his brain, sure that the rescue of someone with so high a profile would surely attract the attention of the Earth Alliance's premier news broadcaster. Already he had sewn up interviews with several of the local Mars networks and before the day was out, he would be seen on every vid screen across the planet, the hero of the hour. He might even be able to get someone else to do the paperwork for him if this kept up.

"Sir," called one of the security officers still in the ruined cafe. "I think you had best take a look at this."

Cox looked annoyed at the interruption and it showed in his response to his subordinate. "I'm a little busy right now, can't you take care of it."

"I don't think so sir," the man, who Cox now recognised as Harrison, one of his most reliable officers. In addition, Cox noticed the taint of fear in the man's voice as he spoke. "This is bad, very bad."

Interested now, Cox walked briskly over to the other man's side and followed his outstretched arm as it pointed towards the ceiling. There the security chief could see the light from Harrison's torch shining off something. He followed the path of the light and looked closer, and felt fear clutch at his as he recognised the bronze symbol of the Psi-Corps, still attached to the uniform of its owner.

"Oh shit," Cox said, before glancing around hurriedly to make sure no one had caught his outburst and was now looking at him. Seeing everyone still watching the medical team take Ivanova away his mind began to think quickly. If he could get the body down and cover him with a sheet then perhaps no one would notice, and it could all be taken care of back at the office. Cox knew that the one thing that would get as much interest as a rescued Earthforce captain would be a dead Psi-Cop, and he recognised the black uniform at almost the same time as he had seen the Psi-Corps symbol.

"He is still alive chief," Harrison suddenly said, using the medical scanner that Belinda Kidd had left behind earlier.

"What?" Cox said, grabbing the medical scanner from Harrison and looking at it's read out for himself. Sure enough, the scanner showed the telepath was still alive, barely and with a weak heartbeat. "Well we had best get another stretcher for him then, and quickly, I don't want him to die on my watch."

The security chief noticed that the crowd that had gathered earlier was now beginning to disperse, probably thinking that the emergency was now over and anything interesting that was going to happen had already occurred. Some of them still had a liner to catch after all, and although its departure had been delayed by the explosion, it wouldn't wait forever. Even as he watched, he could see several passengers heading through the terminal to the liner. Still he didn't really want any more trouble if he could help it, and he especially didn't want the Psi-Corp to find out what had happened to their man through the news networks. He would much rather tell them latter on in his own office that one of their high and mighty Psi-Cops had been injured.

Spotting the colonel he had spoken to earlier he again grabbed the officer's attention and asked him if he wouldn't mind getting his troops to clear the area around the ruined cafe so he could let the maintenance crews in. The colonel quickly agreed and within two minutes, the region around the cafe was clear of everyone except Cox's security men, and the station maintenance teams.

Once that was done, Cox had no trouble getting another medical team into the cafe and assisting them with the removal of the Psi-Cop. As the gurney was rushed off towards the station's medlab, he wondered how the telepath had ended up in one of the station's air vents. The telepath could have been hunting down a rogue, that exploring the ventilation system was usually something the mighty Psi-Cops left to grunts like him. Still that wasn't really his concern now, that would be up to the Psi-Corp investigators when they arrived, and he could only hope that they didn't blame the injury on him, after all it wasn't his fault that the telepath had decided to go crawling through the station's ventilation system just as a bomb was going off below him.

Still mulling events over in his head, and thinking about the inevitable paperwork this was going to create, Frank Cox left the scene of the battle, heading for his office and the first of the interviews with the local networks. His planned triumph was lessened now, as he continued to worry about what the Psi-Corp would do as they tore up the station to find out what had happened to their agent. He knew they would not just accept what he would put in his report, they never did.

It wasn't until nearly an hour latter that he remembered that he had seen the injured Psi-Cop when he had first arrived on the scene, long after the explosion and then Cox really began to worry. Fortunately for him, the Psi-Corp did not seem very interested in his explanations, instead they snatched the half-dead Psi-Cop out of Medlab and asked him to cover it up, and not to let anyone else know what he had seen, something that Frank Cox was only too happy to do.

* * *

Located on the far side of Mars was the domed city of Xanthe Terra, a much smaller and far less known city than Olympus Mons. In many ways though, it was just as important and influential as the capital. Xanthe Terra was the home of the rich and only those with considerable wealth could afford to purchase one of its spectacularly expensive apartments. Luxuries such as private gardens and even the occasional swimming pool were commonplace and on a world where every square metre of land cost a small fortune, the city oozed extravagance.

Tending the small garden of his second story apartment, Harvey Kiel kept up the outward appearance of one of the city's elite. However, unlike the others occupying the city's exclusive apartments, he did not belong here. Even the money that had purchased his apartment was not his own, it had come from his new benefactors, like everything else he owned. For the former Psi-Cop though, this was only a temporary refuge to hide from those who still sought him for the role he had played in the recent troubles on Earth. Wealth and its trappings were of little interest to him, for he knew he was destined for something greater.

Harvey Kiel had faithful served those behind the former Clark regime, and aided the former president by bringing some of his darkest schemes to fruition. Along with a small number of other powerful telepaths who believed in the new order that was coming, he had stood behind the scenes, helping to guide the people of Earth in the direction they needed to go to make that future a reality. It was during his time working on one of the Clark regime's grandest projects that he had come to know his current benefactors and as Sheridan's fleet was busy assaulting Clark's forces above Earth, they had smuggled him off the planet and here to Mars and safety. If it had not been for their assistance, he did not like to think of what might have happened to him. Despite the support he still enjoyed with some in the Psi-Corp hierarchy, many of his former allies in the Corp would have been more than happy to see him turned over to the new government for trial.

A former Psi-Cop, and until recently a very powerful figure amount the Psi-Corp leadership, he no longer wore his old uniform. In fact, his new identity, arranged by those in the Corp who were still loyal to him and the new order, gave his psi-rating as a mere P5, and his occupation as a commercial telepath attached to one of Earth's major mining corporations. However, no matter what his identity card may say, he was still an extremely dangerous man, one that few had the chance to cross even once. Like many of the more powerful male telepaths, he was only short, but with his deep-set eyes and hawk-like nose, he appeared to radiate power and strength, not only mentally, but also physically.

No amount of mental or physical power would have stopped the new Earth government from arresting him if they knew where he was hiding. With an election looming close, the new leaders of Earth were being very thorough in their search for those who had served the former president. Still he was safe now on Mars, far from those who still sought him for the crimes he committed during Clark's rule. With Mars now in the process of becoming a fully independent planet, it was a lot easier for him to hide out here for a while than it would have been back home. He did not intend on hiding out for long though, rather he intended to regain the power he once controlled through a campaign of terror and death, the seeds of which he had only just began to sow.

Just now though, he wasn't sowing anything more dangerous than lettuce plants as he tended his small vegetable garden at the back of his hideout, if one of the most luxurious apartments on Mars could truly be called a hideout. Gardening was one of his few pleasures, and being stuck here in Xanthe Terra for nearly five weeks meant that he had found plenty of time to tend a garden.

Right now, he looked little different from any other middle-aged men as he planted a row of young lettuces in the carefully tiled dirt of the garden. He did not have the look of a man who had been at the centre of the plot to bring Clark to power and who had help guided him from behind the scenes for more years than he cared to think of. That time was gone now though and his concentration was devoted instead to growing his garden, that and the project he was even now guiding to completion.

The sound of heavy footfalls on the rocks of his garden path awoke Kiel from his concentration. He put down the last lettuce plant and let the walls inside his mind lower just enough to allow him to identify the approaching intruder. Then recognising the familiar pattern of the newcomer's mind, the Psi-Cop stood and with barely the slightest effort sent his thoughts into his visitor's mind. _'I trust you have a good reason for interrupting my one simple pleasure Anderson. The task was simple enough, has the nosy lawyer been deposed of yet._

 _'There is a problem sir, it is about agent K,' came_ the thoughts of the other telepath, as Kiel allowed his agent access to his own mind. _'I am afraid that operative K has taken it on himself to eliminate Captain Ivanova. He failed and there is… something of a mess. Several innocent's not related to the project have been killed.'_

Kiel broadcast his supreme annoyance strongly into Anderson's mind. _'Then where is K, it would seem he does have some explaining to do. We cannot attract attention to ourselves yet. The time for that is latter, when everything is in place.'_

The sudden feeling of apprehension that he felt from Anderson's mind shocked him. There was something bothering the military telepath, something he didn't want to tell Kiel. He could feel the indecision, and then finally a brief burst of clarity as Anderson sent his reply. _'I am afraid that K is dead, he was injured in the attack, some sort of spasm or tumour according to the doctors and I had him put down before they could discover anything that might connect us to him.'_

Kiel turned and looked at his subordinate with his eyes now, instead of just his mind. _'Was that necessary? He has been a very valuable asset.'_

Anderson withered under the piercing gaze of his superior, knowing that he could not hide anything from Kiel now. That knowledge foremost in his mind, he resolved to tell the Psi-Cop the whole story. _'The mundanes on the station were most suspicious about his motives and as to how he was injured. I happened to be nearby and when I examined him I found that his mind had been destroyed."_

Now Kiel looked surprised. _'By what, he was a P12 and should have been able to resist any attack that might cause that sort of trauma. He was also ordered to remain back and allow our agents to handle the removal of Ms. Morris.'_

_'So I thought too. However, I believe that he may have been inside the mind of one of those who died during the gun battle and he could have been caught there and unable to escape. If he was caught in a dying mind then it is possible that he suffered a backlash and his mind might not have been strong enough not withstand the pain.'_

_'Gun battle?'_ Kiel looked annoyed that Anderson would leave out important details about the story. He always liked to have the whole story so he could run it over in his mind and search for any answers that others may have missed. _'Perhaps you had best fill me in from the beginning then.'_

Anderson sighed. _'As you wish. May I sit down first, it has been a long journey down from the station.'_

Kiel waved the other telepath towards a small white bench beside the path and they both sat down. _'Now continue, and don't leave anything out.'_

With a slow nod at his superior Darren Anderson thought over what he had been told, and personally observed before sending his thoughts. _'I was on Mars High to meet with General McCarron about my assignment to the Rasputin. K was also on the station with four of our agents watching the lawyer, Julia Morris, as you had requested. Somehow, he found out that the lawyer was going to be meeting Captain Ivanova and sent his agents after both of them. My understanding of your orders were that he was supposed to only kill the lawyer, and even then to do it quietly, but when Ivanova meet with her K sent in our agents and they engaged in a very blood gun battle with Julia Morris and ended up destroying a shop on the embarkation deck._

As he thought Anderson could feel a growing anger insider Kiel at the actions of operative K, he only hoped that this anger would not be turned against him. Quickly subduing off any negative thoughts his superior might detect, he continued. _'Our agents were successful in disposing of Ms. Morris, however one was killed by Captain Ivanova, and as far as I can tell, K then ordered the use of an explosive device. The three remaining agents escaped and they are safe in our facility in Olympus Mons being debriefed. Ivanova was trapped in the wreckage by the explosion and I watched as station security responded and eventually pulled her out. When they took her to Medlab, I followed, hoping to scan her to see what she had learned. I never got close enough though, and then when I was about to leave to come here I heard that K had been found in a air vent above the cafe and had been taken to Medlab. I went there and found that his mind had been fried, so I finished the job and then acting on behalf of the Corp took his body before they could examine him further. I thought it was for the best, as we would have been unable to learn anything from his mind in the condition I found it in, and I didn't think it would be a good idea to let the doctors there poke around too much. He still had those implants, and had they found him they may have been able to link him to the agent who was killed. I then came here as soon as I could to relay this information.'_

Kiel nodded slowly as he considered Anderson recounting of what had happened. _'Yes, you did well then. It would have been good if you could have reclaimed the dead agent as well, but he had little of importance on him, and if we had claimed him then they might have traced him back to us.'_ He stood and began to pace around the tiny area of grass next to the garden. Harvey Kiel was not normally a nervous man, but with the project he was running was now reaching a very critical stage, then everything had to be perfect. He thought of something suddenly and turned back to Anderson. _'Why was K in an air vent, and where was it exactly.'_

Anderson thought for a moment as he considered the information he had gathered before replying. _'He was in the airshaft directly above the cafe where the gun battle took place. I believe he may have gained access through the ventilation system, but I am not sure why he was there, and didn't want to quiz the security chief too much. I did surface scan him though and he didn't have any relevant information on his mind at the time, he was more concerned with the trouble the incident would bring him.'_

_'Hmm, well I guess K bought it on himself. He might have been a valuable assent to the project, but he was still a weak-minded idiot. Make sure his body is disposed of properly.'_

His subordinate sent a quick thought of agreement, while Kiel's mind shifted from the problem of the dead Psi-Cop to other more important matters. _'Does Ivanova know anything of the plan?'_

Anderson shrugged. _'I was unable to scan her, so she could very well know something. However, I don't believe she knows anything of importance. I examined records pulled from the surviving data crystals from the security cameras while I was waiting for K's body to be transferred. The quality was poor and I was unable to make out their conversation in the short time I had. From what I could tell, there is nothing to suggest that Ivanova has enough information to be a threat to the project, although a paper the lawyer gave her did have the name Arisia 3 on it. The Captain did not seem to be familiar with the planet though and went to make a call soon afterward. The call was to her vessel and I was unable to trace it further as the screen she used was destroyed in the fighting.'_

Kiel began to tap his fingers against his forehead, something he always did when he was pondering a problem. _'I would prefer to know what she has learned. If she discovers anything important she would be certain to oppose us.'_

_'I do not think so. Anyway, she is due to ship out for Proxima soon and as I will be attached to her vessel, I can get rid of her if she tries anything that could threaten us. If could even scan her when I go aboard if you desire.'_

Kiel considered this for a moment. _'That might not be a good idea, her record shows an extreme hatred for telepaths and if she discovered what you had done she would certainly respond. She has been violent towards telepaths before, and that fool Bester even claimed that she once tried to kill him with the defence grid of Babylon 5. He was never able to prove it though, and by that time they had broken away from Earth so we were unable to follow up on the report he sent us.'_

_'What was he doing on Babylon 5 if they were had broken away.'_

A raised eyebrow from Kiel was the only indication to Anderson that he was not to pursue the matter, and the dealings of Psi-Cops were not his concern. _'I would still like to know for sure though if she is aware of the project or not. The lawyer knew enough to be a threat, but we do not know if she passed it on.'_

_'Perhaps we can send another to question her, in disguise of course. A message from Futurecorp asking to meet her and explain what happened might be a suitable ruse. Then when our agent was close, he could do a surface scan on her without her detecting it and if necessary, he can feed her a story to send her off on the wrong track. I know you want her alive for Proxima test, but if she knows something then it would be best if we knew now, rather than risk the project. Her record shows how dangerous she can be.'_

Kiel thought this over for a moment before nodding his agreement. _'Send one of the commercial teeps. There is no need to risk any more of our more experienced agents on this. A P5 should be enough to scan her without her noticing, she is only a mundane after all.'_

 _'I have just the person for the job, someone loyal to the cause, yet still expendable in case anything goes wrong again.'_ Anderson handed Kiel a small data pad with the necessary details on it.

_'Good, now have you given any more thought to who will be assisting you in the Proxima part of the Project. I know the military have given you a free hand in the matter.'_

_'Yes I have, I think this person would be most suitable.'_ Anderson handed over another data pad, and Kiel quickly read it.

_'A P5, are you sure. I would have thought you would have taken another P10 with you. She isn't even part of the project.'_

Anderson shook his head and leant over to scroll the information on the data pad down a little. _'There are some important details that you haven't read yet, Sir. As you can see here there is a very good reason why I choose this woman.'_

Kiel scanned the new data, and then his face broke out into its first smile in many weeks. He broadcast his laughter telepathically to Anderson as he realised was his devious subordinate had planned. _'I agree, she is perfect, and loyal too. Even if your plan to find out what Ivanova knows fails then this should keep the Captain busy for a while. Good work.'_

Anderson responded with a smile of his own. _'I thought you would like it. I didn't want the project to fail, and although I do not consider Ivanova a threat it would be best to assure all possibilities are taken care of.'_

_'Agreed, although in two weeks time not even the combined might of entire the Earth Alliance will be able to threaten us. The project is nearing completion and if the tests are successful then no one can stop us. Go now and put your plots into action, I must prepare for transport to Site A3 as soon as possible. You must ensure none discover the project until it is too late. We have worked for too long on this and sacrificed too much for it to fail now.'_

Anderson stood and inclined his head in a slight bow before departing. Kiel watched him leave, before he too stood and left the garden, although he was heading for his study and communications unit rather than the front door. So intense was his concentration on his plans that he did not even notice the last remaining lettuce that he hadn't had time to plant. It was crushed beneath his boot, but he took no notice, his garden was no longer important.

* * *


	11. Chapter 11

* * *

**19:21, February 1, 2262, Mars.**

"I'm fine," Susan said, swatting at her nurse's hand as he tried to prevent her from getting out of the bed. "All I need is my uniform, some rest, and a good cup of coffee. I don't need to be stuck here letting people poke at me to see how I am feeling, when I already know I am fine. "

"But the doctor," the nurse attempted to argue. "He said that there were more tests that he needed to run."

"Well he can run them on someone else," Susan said firmly, her words carrying the unmistakable air of finality about them. Susan had always hated being poked by doctors, even Franklin back on Babylon 5, and he was a good friend. She certainly wasn't going to let some strange doctor keep her in bed for days, no matter how she felt. "Now get me my uniform so I can get rid of this stupid gown." Annoyed she tugged irritably at the white fabric as if it was something that offended her.

The nurse sighed, finally giving up the battle to confine the difficult woman to her bed. He snatched up her uniform from the table it lay on and threw it at Ivanova. "There, but if the doctor chews me out because I let you go I am going to tell him you slipped away when I was visiting another patient."

Susan smiled at the dour nurse, "don't worry I feel fine now. It was just a little bump on the head. I have had a lot worse. I just have to get out of here. Besides, it is not as if I won't have someone the look after me, my ship has a full medical team."

The nurse harrumphed and stomped out of the room to leave Susan to dress in private. As soon as he was gone, she tore off the itchy Medlab gown and tossed it into a bin on the other side of the room. She then quickly dressed in her Earthforce uniform, trying to ignore the tear in the sleave and what looked like blood stains covering the right leg. She had little physical damage to show for the day's activities, although the same could not be said for her uniform. It was torn and covered in dust, blood and other unidentifiable substances. Susan wasn't about to wait around her while another was fetched from the Rasputin though, this would have to do until she could get back to her quarters.

Finally fully dressed she stretched to test her body for any hidden aches of pains, before slipping out of the room and down the corridor towards the rest of the station. In fact, physically she didn't feel bad at all, in spite of a nagging headache that had plagued her ever since the medical team had pulled her out of the bombed cafe. She had complained to the doctor twice as he had examined her, and finally giving in to her demands, he had pumped more painkillers into her system. They didn't seem to have made much difference though, the headache remained, although the other minor aches and pains she was feeling had faded away.

However, despite what she had told the nurse, and before him the doctor, she really wasn't fine at all. Mentally she was still feeling the effects of the strange dream she had suffered while unconscious. She couldn't remember exactly what the dream had been about, just a few scattered images that left her confused and more than a little worried. But for some reason the images kept coming back to her, as if her mind was trying to tell her something, although Susan had no idea what that could be. All she knew was that in her dream she had lost control, let her anger overwhelm her. Perhaps the dream was trying to tell her lighten up and stop being so serious all the time, but she could not help but feel that it was something more though. Still she had suffered a nasty knock to the head so it was little worry that she had such a strange dream.

Further thoughts on the matter were put aside however as Susan noticed two men walking down the corridor towards her. At first, she thought that they were staff from the medlab and looked for somewhere to hide until they had passed. Then she noticed the sturdy frame of General McCarron and relaxed. The second man she didn't know, but he wore the grey of Earthforce security so was probably a member of the station's Security team.

As they came closer, she examined the second man, trying to determine his importance. He was a tall man, although he was stooped over so he could hear the General better. As he drew closer, Susan noticed his hair was long and drawn back behind his head in a ponytail, similar to how she occasionally wore her own hair. His uniform was also baggy and ill fitting, so Susan was very surprised when she saw his rank insignia identifying him as Chief of Security.

She sighed as she realised that the two men probably wanted to quiz her about what had happened, and for a moment thought about going the other way. It was too late to escape though as the General had already spotted her. "Captain," his deep voice called out. "I didn't think you would be out of bed yet. The doctor said it would be a day at least."

Susan turned back to the General and looked at him defiantly as if to dispute the doctors claims. "I am fine Sir, Dr Muller is just being too cautious."

"Yes he does seem to err a little on the cautious side," McCarron agreed, an almost invisible smile playing across his lips. Then he turned and indicated his travelling companion. "Actually Frank here wanted to ask you a few questions about what happened so we were just on our way to see you. Now that you are out of bed, perhaps we can go somewhere a little quieter and have a quick chat. I must admit I am a little curious as well, it is not every day that part of my station get blown up. "

Susan sighed deeply. She knew this was going to happen, which is one of the reason she had been trying to sneak out of the Medlab early. She knew there would be questions, but she had no answers, and probably knew little more than they did. Still she agreed to the General's proposition and followed him and Security Chief Cox to his nearby office.

Compared to the tightly run security office back on Babylon 5, this room was a mess. There were piles of printouts and data crystals covering every surface, and the desk that dominated much of the room was piled high with mementos, paperweights, unwashed cups, and other unidentifiable junk. Security Chief Cox did not seem fazed by the mess though, and simply pushed a few stacks of papers into a box and shoved it under the desk, clearing enough space for his recorder and the reports on the bombing.

It had only been just over five hours since the attack on the cafe, but already the reports from the various departments had found their way to the security chief's office. As Susan watched him leafing through the papers, she realised that Mars High was a very different place from Babylon 5. T here it often took days for a report to arrive, while here a single incident could cause half a hundred separate reports to suddenly materialise without being asked for.

"Anything I can get you Captain," Frank Cox asked as he located the information he was searching for and put the rest of the papers aside. "A drink perhaps, or maybe something to eat."

"Coffee would be nice," Susan replied as she took a seat in front of the Chief's desk. The seats appeared to be free any clutter, but as far as she could tell they were the only level surface in the office that was not already in use.

"Coming right up," Cox said, and headed off to a side room to prepare the drink. General McCarron poked around the office, looking at some of the reports as if interested, before finally taking a seat next to Susan. Cox soon returned with three cups of coffee and a plate of crackers, with what looked like real cheese on them. Susan gratefully accepted both the cup and the plate, realising that she hadn't eaten anything since breakfast, and that was now many hours ago.

Cox pulled out a large chocolate biscuit from a drawer in his desk and munched on it as he sorted through the papers on his desk, again looking through the reports on bombing. "Now lets see," he mumbled with his mouth still half full of biscuit. He took a sip from his cup before continuing. "According to the reports you met with another woman and talked to her briefly, then as you were making a call four men appeared and started shooting up the place. Does that cover it?"

"Pretty much," Susan agreed, hoping that was all he was going to ask.

Cox nodded. "Good, now who was the woman?"

Susan shrugged. "I don't really know much about her. Her name was apparently Julia Morris and she said she was a lawyer for Futurecorp. She wanted to negotiate to buy the mining rights to a planet called Arisia 3, which she said belonged to me, or rather a company that I owned, although I didn't know I owned it until she told me."

"You didn't know you owned a mining company." Cox said in a puzzled voice.

Susan grimaced; remembering how had felt when she had found out that Marcus had left her his family company. "A friend of mine left it to me after he died, and no one had informed me. That was why I made the call to Babylon 5 to check and see if what she said was true. It was something of a surprise to learn."

"I imagine it would be," General McCarron said as he reached over and took a cracker from the plate she held. "Hell, something like that would certainly surprise me."

"Yes," Cox said softly as he scanned his notes. "Well anyway what happened then?"

Susan thought back for a moment, trying to put the memories of the fight in their correct order. "Well I was speaking to President Sheridan when I heard someone active a PPG, then they started firing. I ducked down behind the counter. When I looked to see what was happening, I saw the four gunmen shooting up the place, and the lawyer firing back with a pistol."

"There were four gunmen?" Cox asked, interrupting her explanation. "Witness reports said there were only three running away from the scene."

"That is because I shot one," Susan explained. "There was an old laser rifle under the counter and I used that to drop one of the gunmen. Then they turned their weapons on me and the lawyer tried to run. She only made it as far as the shuttle bay doors though before they gunned her down."

"And that was when they blew up the cafe?" McCarron asked.

Susan nodded. "Yes, as soon as she was dead they left. I think it might have been because they heard security or someone coming."

"That was some troops who were waiting to board their transport," Cox offered. "They were running to see what happened. My own men were at the other end of the station on another matter at the time so didn't arrive until later."

"Oh," Susan said. "Well, they certainly didn't seem interesting in hanging around so they took off, but not before they threw the grenade into the cafe. That was about all I remember until I woke up and saw all the damage."

"So it looks like they were after the Lawyer then," the General asked. "They only fired at you when you shot one of them."

Susan nodded, "yes that is how I remember it."

"Chief put that in your report then. The gunmen were trying to kill this Julia Morris woman and the Captain here was only in the wrong place at the wrong time. Try and see if you can find out what this lawyers interest in this Arisia planet was, and find out where those gunmen came from."

"Yes Sir," Cox said, quickly typing in a few notes on his desk computer.

"Good, now I have to go. Make sure you check in at the morgue and see if you can find the body of the dead gunman, Captain you can give him a description. Oh and Captain as soon as Frank is finished with you go back to your ship and try to stay out of trouble for a while. The way today has turned out, I don't think we can afford to have you on Mars High."

Susan smiled and nodded at the General's suggestion. She would like nothing more than to be back on the Rasputin now. At least she had a comfortable bed there, and although she had only been on board for less than two days, the ship was already beginning to feel like home. The General was right too, she was a lot safer there, especially as she remembered his warning from earlier that day. She felt her pocket and sighed in relief as she felt the crinkled mass of paper, the list of Clark's conspirators, still safe and intact.

General McCarron stood and saluted the two other officers before leaving on his own errands. Susan and Frank Cox stood as he did and returned his salute before sitting down again. Susan looked longingly at the door for a moment, but stayed, knowing that the security chief would likely have more questions for her before she could leave.

Cox made a few more notes on his computer before turning back to her, and continuing his questioning. "Did you see anyone else around Captain, someone who was acting suspicious and out of place."

Susan shook her head, "I didn't get much of a chance to see what was really going on. In fact I spent most of the time hiding behind the counter in the cafe, trying to avoid being hit."

Frank Cox nodded, as if agreeing with the wisdom of her actions. He scribbled another quick note, this time on a piece of paper before asking his next question. "And did you see any one being hit by gunfire? Apart from this Julia Morris and the gunman of course."

Susan thought back on the battle, trying to look at it as an observer, rather than someone who had been involved in the thick of the fighting. "I think there were four other people hit during the gunfight," she said at last. "There was the cafe owner, a young girl who was a patron at the cafe, and two others who where near the gunmen. I know the cafe owner died, but I don't know about anyone else."

The security chief quickly scanned his note on the numbers of dead and wounded to locate those Susan had identified. "No others Captain?" he asked. "There were more injured and dead than that."

Susan shook her head, "no others, but as I said I didn't get a good look at the fighting, and then they blew up the cafe so I didn't see much more after that."

"Well I just wanted to see what you knew," Cox said. "I guess there is nothing more for now Captain, so you may as well head back to your ship. However, I will have some of my men escort you back to your shuttle. As the general said it is likely that these gunmen were after the lawyer, but just in case I will send some of men along with you while you are here."

"Thank you chief," Susan said. She stood, realising that the interview was now over and, after shaking his hand, left to return to her vessel.

Frank Cox watched her leave, and was not at all surprised to see a green uniformed figure slip into the room shortly after. "What do you want Anderson," he asked testily.

"Just checking up to see if you had any news on my friend who was injured in the little incident this afternoon, like maybe who was responsible."

Frank Cox eyed the telepath with a suspicious glare. He didn't need to be telepathic to know that he was not being told the whole truth about the psi-cop's presence at the cafe. "Nothing so far, but I am looking. Captain Ivanova knew nothing, she didn't see him being injured and was unconscious until we pulled her out of the rubble, so I am afraid she will be little use in your investigation."

Anderson nodded, "I thought as much, still I needed to be sure, she may have seen what happened to him. It is still something of a mystery to the Corp exactly what caused his injuries."

"Why don't you ask him when he recovers," Cox asked.

"Well he may not recover, and if is it important I would like to track down the person responsible now, before anyone else in injured. There is a slim possibility that a rogue telepath may have surprised him, a rogue who could still be lurking on this station, a danger to everyone one here."

Cox shuffled his papers again, silently trying to indicate that this meeting was at an end, and he had important work to do. Anderson however did not take the hint and continued speaking. "Do you have anyone in custody for the attack yet chief?"

"Not yet," Cox sighed, realising that he was going to have to waste more time with the telepath after all. "Although I am sure we will have them soon. Mars is only so big, and they can't hide out down there forever."

"How are you so certain that they are on Mars?" Anderson quizzed, while trying to peek at the security chief's computer screen at the same time. "After all, they could have taken a shuttle somewhere else."

Cox dropped the papers in his hands onto the computer screens that had been built into his desk, hiding what was displayed on them from the curious telepath's eyes. "All outgoing ships since the incident have been checked over by my men, and nothing suspicious has been found. We locked down the station almost immediately and have been checking outgoing vessel before they have departed, so we are now certain that they have not left the station through any of the main bays. They may have slipped off some other way, but how I don't know. It is something of a mystery around here, but rest assured we will find them, they can't get far, and if they are still on the station we should have them before the day is out."

Anderson nodded. "Good, well I want to be informed when they are found, the Corp would like to speak with them."

"You will be the first person I call Mr Anderson," Cox said in a very unconvincing tone of voice. "Now if you don't mind I have to get back to work. After all the more time I have to spend on this investigation the quicker I will find things."

"Of course Mr Cox," Anderson said as he hoped down from his perch on the edge of Cox's desk. "I expect to be kept informed on the investigation as well, tell me everything you find."

"Everything I know, I will pass on to you."

Anderson nodded and slowly left the room, but not before stopping and sending one final comment Cox's way. "I would expect nothing less Mr Cox, after all it was one of my friends who was injured, and even now he is lying in a hospital bed on Mars and may not recover."

Cox watched Anderson's back retreating from his office with barely concealed venom. He knew that the injured Psi-Cop had not survived the attack, and was in fact already dead when he had been taken from the station. He could not help but wonder why the Psi-Corp were concealing that little fact though. Something didn't make sense here, and he would be damned if he was going to give the Psi-Corp any assistance. As far as Frank Cox was concerned, they could find what they were searching for themselves. In fact, it would probably be best if he didn't tell anyone at all about the Psi-Cop being there. That way he could conduct his investigation without any further trouble from outsiders.

There was something about the whole situation that had made Frank Cox want to keep the information he did have to himself, and not tell Anderson or anyone else that the now dead Psi-Cop had been seen alive after the bombing, and did not die from gunshots like everyone else. Of course, he was also completely unaware that his decision to keep silent was not his own. As he had sat in Cox's office, the telepath Anderson had spent the whole time planting a suggestion deep in the mind of the Security Chief. Unfortunately for Anderson though he had done his job too well, and now Cox would not be telling anyone about the Psi-Cop, not even Anderson himself.

* * *

The bright sparks from laser welding equipment assaulted Susan's eyes as she stepped from the shuttle onto the solid deck of the Rasputin's main cargo bay. She had chosen to ride in the passenger cabin on the return trip and had at once regretted that decision as she had been bombarded with greetings and stares from members of her new crew, eager to meet their captain. She had gritted her teeth and smiled as pleasantly as she could, before firmly ordering them to leave her alone.

Susan knew that they meant well, but with the recent Shadow War documentaries ISN and some of the other networks had been running she had seen enough publicity to last her for a long, long time. Now all she wanted to do was get back to the more normal life of a starship captain, and leave behind the heights she had gained while on Babylon 5.

Eager to get off the shuttle she had been first through the door as it had landed gently in the docking bay. Now she was picking her way through the piles of cargo that had gathered since she had left earlier today. It had only been a little under 10 hours, but so much had happened in the time she had been away. The ache in her head was one reminder of today's events. Despite the drugs the doctor on the station had given her, the pain was still there. Susan made a mental note to visit Amanda Taylor as soon as possible and see if the Rasputin's doctor couldn't do something. Otherwise, she was going to be cranky for the rest of the day, and her crew would not be getting a very good impression of their captain.

Looking around she was surprised at the amount of cargo that had collected in the shuttle bay since her departure. This morning it had nearly been empty, but now crates and boxes were piled high in every direction and the whole bay was busy with sound and movement as her crew unloaded supplies from one of the two shuttles currently sitting in the bay.

There also seemed a lot more crewmembers around now than there had been this morning. When the Rasputin had left Neptune, it had a skeleton crew of fewer than three hundred, the number that were deemed necessary to operate the main systems during the short trip to Mars. Now there were at least a hundred people wandered around the cargo bay alone, some busy with duties while the rest looked a little lost, wandering around carrying large bags that probably held all their possessions.

Looking around she tried to find someone in charge, and finally spotted Commander Petrov trying to bring some order to the chaos. Quietly she came up behind him and when close enough said softly, "Everything under control here Commander?"

Petrov looked around sharply at the sound of her voice, and for a faint second a look of relief crossed his face before it returned to the normal impassive mask he wore like a second skin. "Captain, I didn't expect you here so soon. We heard about the bombing on the local news earlier today and frankly were a little worried we wouldn't see you again at all."

"Well I got sick of waiting around in the Station Medlab when there was nothing wrong with me," Susan replied. "I didn't really want to spend the night there either, I think I'll be a lot more comfortable here."

"Well I didn't know what to expect when I saw the news. We were all rather worried."

"I am fine now Commander," Susan said to ease his concern. "All I need now is a meal and a good night's sleep."

"I think we can arrange that Captain," Petrov said. "I haven't had anything to eat myself, and if you don't mind I think I will join you. Things have been a little busy around here this afternoon to spare the time for a meal."

Susan smiled as she looked around at the chaos he had been trying to direct. "You wouldn't be trying to avoid your duties now would you Commander. As your commanding officer I have to be very firm about such things."

"Wouldn't dream of doing that Captain," Petrov said, reaching out and grabbing a passing lieutenant by the shoulder. "Besides lieutenant," Petrov quickly scanned the name on the young officer's uniform, "Sloan here will take over for me. Won't you now lieutenant?"

The young man, who looked as though he was just out of the academy, was shocked by being suddenly wrenched away from his stride. Finding himself in the presence of the two highest-ranking officers on the Rasputin his training took over and he executed a perfect salute. "Yes Sir, I am always ready to serve Sir."

Susan hid a smile at the eager way the lieutenant saluted, and the faint tremble in his voice as he probably wondered why he was being singled out. 'It is good to be the captain,' she though to herself with no small amount of amusement. Ten years ago she would have been just like the lieutenant, although she could no longer remember ever being that young. So much had happened over the past few years that her memories of the past had begun to dim, replaced instead with the nightmares of recent times.

"Good lieutenant," Petrov was saying as he handed over the small data pad containing all the shipping orders for the cargo and crew that were now scattered across the shuttle bay. "All you have to do is make sure that everything here is transported to its correct storage bay, and all the new crew are given quarters. All the information is in the data pad, and I will be back to check on you later."

"Umm...Yes Sir," Lieutenant Sloan said with only a little hesitation in his voice. That was all Petrov needed and with Susan following, he walked away from the lieutenant and towards the lift up to the command deck. Susan watched the lieutenant face as she walked after Petrov, noting how his eager smile at being given the responsibility soon faded as he realised just how much work there was to be done.

"It will do him good," Petrov said.

"That's what my superiors told me when I joined up, and look where it got me," Susan responded, neither agreeing with nor condemning the Commander's methods.

"One of the youngest Captains in the alliance, a war hero, and not to mention being the darling of the press. You won't believe how many calls I have had from ISN and the other networks, all wanting an interview about how you managed to survive the bomb blast. If you don't watch it they might start turning you into some sort of god."

Susan grimaced in annoyance. She hadn't wanted the attention ISN had been giving her, and would have preferred it if they had focused on Sheridan instead. After all, she had left Babylon 5 to escape attention and get away from the memories she had from her time there. She didn't need to be reminded every day by the press. It had become worse over the past month as the story from the Shadow War had finally come out and ISN had been running a series of documentaries on the subject. In typical ISN style, they had given the story more romance and drama than had truly occurred and the battles she had remembered had become tales of legend. Still at last the truth was being told, if it had been a little tainted by the propaganda spread by Clark's rule.

"Are you alright Captain," Petrov asked, interrupting her thoughts.

Susan nodded. "I was just thinking Commander. Oh and if any reporters call asking for an interview tell them I am unavailable for comment."

"As you wish Captain, although to be honest they have only been one of the problems we have had around here today. Apart from worrying if my Captain was still alive or not, I've also had to deal with the sudden influx of cargo and crew over the past few hours. I've even had most of maintenance up in arms about Doctor Kozlowski, claiming he keeps stealing their tools. I'm beginning to wish that I hadn't been so quick coming back from the station this morning. Even getting…"

"Doctor Kozlowski has been doing what?" Susan cut in.

"Stealing tools apparently, although he claims he was borrowing them for an important experiment. In the past few hours, he has borrowed nearly every type of cutting tool we have on the ship. No explanation of what he is doing of course, and he never returns them. It is driving maintenance crazy."

Susan shook her head. "I'll have a word with him I think, he has to learn that this is a starship, not his personal laboratory."

"Agreed," Petrov nodded.

By now, they had reached the lift door, and as they waited for it to return to his level, Susan turned to continue their conversation. However, before she could speak, the doors opened and out stepped the object of the thoughts. Kozlowski was busy reading some papers and bumped right into her as he stepped from the lift car, his mind again focused on his work instead of the world around him. Finding the immobile, not to mention shapely, frame of his captain blocking his way, the Doctor looked up with surprise showing plainly on his face. It didn't last long though and instead a look of glee passed briefly over his features. "Captain," he said in an eager tone of voice, one that reminded Susan of a puppy dog begging for a bone. "I was hoping to see you. Apparently I need your permission to go down to the surface."

Susan looked at him slowly, trying to determine what he was up to now. "For what reason Doctor. I need a good reason before I allow you access to one of the shuttles."

"Oh I didn't want a shuttle, or rather I do, but I didn't want one to fly. I only design starships. I can't fly you see. No I just need transport to the surface, either directly, or if that isn't possible then just to the transfer station where I can take a commercial shuttle down to Mars."

Susan looked over at Petrov who quickly answered. "There is a shuttle leaving for Mars High in a few minutes, he can catch passage on that if he hurries."

"Oh good," Kozlowski said as he looked over the bay towards the massive shape of the shuttle sitting at the far end of the bay. "That will do just fine."

He turned to depart, but Susan wasn't letting him go quite so easily. She could see some very good reasons why she would be glad to have Kozlowski away from the Rasputin for a few hours at least, but was worried that he might get into even more trouble on Mars. "What do you need on Mars, Doctor?"

"I just need to visit an old friend of mine, who teaches at the Mars University. I have been having trouble with an experiment of mine, and his lab has recently taken delivery of some specialised equipment that might solve my current problems. I'd like also to purchase a few items before we depart. Nothing really important, Captain, but I would like to have them on board in case of an emergency."

Susan nodded, realising that it was unlikely that Kozlowski was going to be doing anything that would put the ship in immediate danger while he was down on Mars. "Very well Doctor you can go, but we leave soon so don't stay down there for too long. If I have to send someone to fetch you I will be very cross with you."

"I will be very quick Captain, you won't even know I have gone." Kozlowski said, before hurrying off towards the shuttle, which even now was preparing to power up its thrusters ready for departure.

"Humph, that takes care of one problem for a few hours anyway," Petrov muttered under his breath as he walked onto the lift with Susan. The door closed, cutting out the noise of the whining shuttle engines and leaving behind only the faint hum of the lift motors. Petrov sighed, "Well I am certainly glad to be out of that mad house."

Susan smiled, "it certainly seems a little chaotic, but compared to Babylon 5 it seems almost peaceful. At least here everyone is working for the one side."

"True enough Captain. I have never really had a chance to serve on a space station. Well except for a couple of months on one of the deep space outposts, but I guess everyone has to serve on one of them at least once."

Susan nodded, remembering the three months she had spent on the Clementine Outpost, right on the border of Narn space. It was nearly twelve years ago now, but she could still remember the strict conditions on board the tiny station. Still that was a long time ago, and compared to what had happened to her recently having to spend days without speaking was hardly a strain.

"I guess so Commander," she said in answer to his statement.

Then the lift doors opened up as they reached the command deck, cutting short any thought of further conversation. Susan was the first to exit, the pangs of hunger biting deeply. Normally she never felt that hungry and had no trouble keeping to any diet, but for some reason her adventurous afternoon had left her feeling almost ravenous. So enthusiastic was she to get to the officers mess that she almost walked straight into the shapely form of Lieutenant Heneker, the Rasputin's communications officer.

"Captain," the young lieutenant began. "I was just about to come and look for you. I heard that you had returned and thought I should inform you that you have had several urgent calls from President Sheridan of the Interstellar Alliance. He had just called again, and when I told him you had return, he was most insistent that I let him speak to you. I have him on hold at the moment."

Susan looked of annoyance at the interruption quickly faded, as she remembered she had been calling Sheridan when the cafe had been attacked. "Damn, couldn't you have contacted me earlier. If I had know I would have sent a message from the station to tell him I was alright."

"Sorry Captain," Heneker said apologetically. "I tried to raise you but your link didn't respond. Then I heard about the bombing on the station."

Susan clapped her hand over her link, and realised for the first time that it was missing. She must have lost it in the cafe somewhere, and buried in the rubble it would be little use now.

"I bought you another link Captain," Heneker offered. "I thought you might need it. I've also reset the coding so your old link cannot be used by anyone else."

Nodding in acceptance Susan took the new link and pushed it down on the back of her hand, waiting the second or so it took the molecular bonding to take hold before removing her hand. Then, once it was in place, she turned back to the Lieutenant and said, "I will take President Sheridan's call in my quarters. Can you redirect it please."

"Yes Sir," Heneker said with a nod. "I made a recording of his earlier messages, do you want the sent to your console as well?"

"That won't be necessary Lieutenant." Susan replied. "If there was anything important in them then I am sure President Sheridan will mention it when I talk to him. You can delete those messages."

The young Lieutenant nodded and left to make the necessary arrangements.

"Well it looks like I will be dining alone then Captain," Petrov observed as she turned to head towards her cabin instead of the dining room. Just then the door to the officer's mess opened and they could both see that it was packed with newly arrived officers. The resounding sound of Alister Schmitt's voice crept over the general chatter of the mess hall as the fighter commander enlightened the gathered officers with a story of his days as a young fighter pilot in the Earth-Minbari war. Petrov sighed and looked back towards Susan who was watching him with a faint smile. "Perhaps I will wait a little for my meal after all Captain. After a few minutes in the company of Mr Schmitt when he is telling one of his tales and even the cargo bay will start to look good."

"Well perhaps I will see you later then Commander. But now I have someone to talk to, so if you will excuse me."

"Of course captain." Before he could even finish speaking, Susan was gone, hustling towards her cabin. "Oh well, perhaps later then," he said to himself. For a moment, he thought about heading into the officer's mess, but then changing his mind Petrov took the lift back down to the cargo decks.

* * *

The vid screen in her officer was displaying a blinking Earth Alliance logo when Susan entered, indicating that a message was waiting. Eventually the crew would decide on an emblem for the Rasputin and then that would be used instead, but until then, they would have to make do with the standard Earthforce insignia.

Sitting herself down in the chair behind her desk Susan let her hair down, and brushed her uniform to try to remove, or at least obscure, some the worst marks on her uniform. As she released her hair and ran her hands through it some of the throbbing pain she had experienced since releasing herself from hospital finally began to fade. She wasn't sure what had eased it, but she was glad for the small relief. She still hadn't had time to see the ship's doctor about more painkillers, but if she were lucky, perhaps the headache would go away. With that in mind, she gently rubbed her temples for a few seconds before answering the incoming call.

As the worried face of John Sheridan filled the large screen, she sat up, her back straight and firm, once again the sight of perfect health. If it were not for the tears in the sleeve of her uniform, and the bloodstains on her leg it would have been difficult to tell she had been in the middle of a bomb blast at all.

"Susan," Sheridan said, looking very concerned. "Are you alright, I thought you were dead for a while there, what with reports of a bomb blast and everything."

"I am fine John," Susan cut him off. "It takes more than a few ruffians with PPGs to stop me. You should know that by now."  
Sheridan's manner relaxed somewhat as he saw the fiery spirit of his former first officer was still burning strong. "Good to see you are still in one piece Susan, now to do you mind telling me what the hell has been going on back there."

Susan shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine John. s far as we can tell the gunmen were after the lawyer who was speaking to me. I just happened to be there at the wrong time, that's all."

"So they weren't after you then?" Sheridan asked. "I thought it might have been one of Clark's former allies out to exact some revenge. We have had a little trouble with them out here you know."

"I did see something about an assassination attempt on ISN a few weeks ago. I guess it should be me who is asking if you are ok."

Sheridan looked serious for a moment at the mention of the attempt on his life. "I am fine, fortunately Mr Garibaldi managed to stop him in time."

A brief flicker of a smile graced Susan's face as she thought back to the time she had spent on Babylon 5. She quickly pulled her thought off that train though, as darker images began to creep into her mind. Instead, she asked Sheridan, "How is Garibaldi coping with his new job?"

"I think he will cope, anyway I called to see how you were, not to talk about Garibaldi." Sheridan looked at her closely, eyeing the lower half of her uniform, which was just within his range of vision. "Are you sure you are fine, those look like bloodstains on your leg there."

Susan quickly covered the offending stains with her hand. "It isn't my blood though. I just had a little bump on the head and that is all. The doctor on Mars High said I was fine to leave."

"Well as long as you are taking care of yourself Susan. As I said this morning, you haven't exactly kept in touch over the past few weeks. You seem to be speaking to ISN more than us, so I just wanted to make sure you are still ok."

"I am fine John, I have just been a little busy, what with taking command of a new ship, with an all new crew and everything. And then there is ISN pestering me every waking moment for an interview."

Sheridan looked at her with an amused grin on his face. "I am sure it can't be that bad. After all they haven't been after me that much."

Susan gave a short dismissive snort at that comment. " And I think you know the reason why not."

Sheridan tried to look innocent, but as usual was failing miserably. "You don't think I would abuse my position of power to order the press to leave me alone would you."

"Not in so many words, but you might send Garibaldi to make sure they didn't disturb you. Still I have decided that if I ignore them they will eventually get sick of bothering me, and go off to annoy someone else. It is not as if I have been doing anything interesting since I left Babylon 5."

Sheridan raised an eyebrow. "Well I would call being involved in a gunfight, and then surviving a bomb blast fairly interesting."

"Except for that."

Sheridan nodded in sympathy. In truth, ISN had been pestering her because of her important role in both the Shadow War, and the rebellion against Clark. Her appearances as the Voice of the Resistance had bought her face to the attention of hundreds of thousands across the Alliance, as the public face of the forces opposed to Clark. Now that the civil war was over and the fact she had rejoined Earthforce she was paying the price for that high profile. Whenever ISN or one of the other networks needed someone to interview for one of their documentaries, or special reports she was always highest on the list.

In addition, with Sheridan returning to Babylon 5, those who had supported him in the war against Clark now turned to her. She had received several offers to enter politics for one party or another, but had turned them all down. She had experienced enough politics on Babylon 5, and now was looking forward to the quiet life on board her own warship. At least that had been the plan.

"Anyway I was worried about you Susan. From the look of your last call I thought you might have been killed, and no-one on the Mars station could give me any information."

"As I said John I am fine." She jumped up to her feet and spun around in a circle. "See nothing wrong with me," She said with a broad smile.

"Well take care of yourself Susan. So many have died in the last couple of years, I wouldn't want to lose you as well."

Susan's face lost its humour, "I know John. I don't think I can ever forget those we have lost."

Sheridan nodded sadly for a moment, but then a beeping from his link distracted him. "Looks like I have to go Susan, you take care of yourself, and this time call more often. We miss you back here."

"I will John," Susan raised her hand to wave goodbye, but the link was already lost. She felt the beginnings of tears forming in her eyes as she tried to push aside the memories of the way Marcus had died. Try as she might she could not prevent the sadness she felt returning and a single tear slowly running down her cheek. Angrily she brushed it away, annoyed that she was still upset about the foolish sacrifice Marcus had made for her. That had happened months ago now, and she should be over it.

She waved her hand at the screen and almost shouted, "Off." Then, as the screen when dark she dragged herself back to her feet, and towards the door of her quarters. Opening the door out of her office and into the lounge room beyond, she hesitated for a moment as she saw the unopened crates holding her belongings. She knelt beside the first crate and after opening it pulled out a clean uniform.

Somewhere on this ship, with its crew of over a thousand there would have to be a tailor and laundry for repairing and clearing uniforms. She would have to ask Petrov or one of the other officers about that later. The Rasputin was still very strange to her, a new vessel, and she was going to have to spend time adapting to it routine. Still in time, she would grow used to it, as she had to Babylon 5.

Tugging off her torn and stained uniform she tossed it over a nearby chair and marched off towards the bathroom, and before long was luxuriating in the warm flow of water from the shower. At least there was one thing good about her new vessel, the fact that it, like Babylon 5, had real water showers in the officer's quarters. For a moment, Susan felt a little sorry for the rest of the crew with only their sonic showers. Then she turned up the heat a little and let the warm water wash away all her concerns.

* * *


	12. Chapter 12

* * *

**23:56, February 1, 2262, Mars.**

A much cleaner and happier Susan Ivanova entered the officer's dining room almost two hours later. The room, more commonly known as the officer's mess, was now quiet and empty, with the rest of the crew having retired for the night. The Rasputin kept Earth standard time, despite their current orbit around Mars. It made everything a lot easier for the crew who were used to the standard 24-hour cycle.

It also meant that as it was now near midnight the ship was almost as quiet as a grave, with most of the crew sleeping comfortably in their beds and only an unlucky few remaining on watch down below in the secondary bridge. Susan probably should be in bed as well, but for some reason she wasn't able to sleep without having something to eat. Normally, she would never feel this way, and in the past had gone without food for an entire day without any ill effects. Now for some reason she felt so ravenous she knew she would be unable to sleep without eating something.

Selecting a tray from the dispenser, Susan sat down at a table. She stared at the mush that filled her plate, and poked at it listlessly with her fork. Picking up a small amount, she resolved to try it, and was surprised when it didn't taste as bad as she had imagined. Unlike most of the Earth Alliance warships, the Rasputin had a proper galley, instead of the more common automatic systems that dispensed the greenish slush that now filled her plate. Sure, it tasted ok, but it wasn't really food. Susan didn't really have any choice now though as the main meal had long since passed and she would have to make do with what currently filled her plate.

After finishing about half of it the feeling of ravenous hunger that had gripped her left and Susan began to feel drowsy instead. Her mind drifted back to what had happened earlier that day, with the attack at the cafe and the strange dream she had experienced. There was something nagging at the back of her mind about the whole experience, something that she couldn't quite grasp. She knew it was important, but she couldn't remember what it was.

The rest of her meal now sat forgotten on the table as she absently pushed the green mush from one side of the plate to the other with her fork, her mind no longer focused on her environment. Latter she would not remember how long she had sat there, slowly pushing her food around the plate, and had Commander Petrov chosen that time to come in for his own meal she may have been there all night.

His clear voice soon cut through her daze though, bringing her back to the present. She turned around with a jerk and blinked her eyes for a second before focusing on Petrov. "Sorry, what was that you said Commander."

"I asked if you were ok Captain, you looked half-asleep."

Susan tried to stifle a yawn, but failed miserably. "I guess I am a little tired. What is the time?"

"Just after midnight, I was just going to get a snack before bed."

"Well don't let me stop you Commander. Although I don't think this stuff changes much with age."

Petrov smiled as he retrieved a plate of his own from the dispenser. "I don't think it does Captain. Still it does have all the necessary proteins necessary for life, and they even add flavour now so it doesn't taste like wet cardboard any more."

Susan nodded, awareness now having fully returned. "I just can't help thinking about how they make it, and the smell."

"Well, that is all gone by the time it gets to us. Anyway, the Rasputin actually has a proper galley so we won't have to be eating this sludge too often. That is one of the advantages of being on the most advanced destroyer in the fleet, that and the running water. I must say that your hair does look a lot better without all the dust in it Captain."

Susan reached up and touched the still slightly wet hair, "Well I certainly feel a lot better. The headache has even gone."

"Headache," Petrov asked with a slightly concerned look on his face. "You didn't mention that when I asked you how you felt earlier."

"It wasn't that bad, anyway it is gone now and I feel fine. Well a little bit sleepy, but otherwise fine."

The concerned look did not leave the Commander's face. "As long as you think you are alright Captain, but I don't want to see you hiding injuries from me. After all it is my job to ensure that everything on this ship runs smoothly, and that includes its captain."

"You do not need to worry about me Commander. If I wasn't well enough to be here, I would say so."

"With respect Captain, that is not what your record says."

Susan looked at the Commander with a slight frown on her face. "You checked my record?"

"I had to, it is part of my job."

She grumbled for a moment, but remembered that she had done the same thing with both Commander Sinclair and Captain Sheridan when she learned that she was to serve under him on Babylon 5. At least Petrov had told her.

"And what else did my record tell you Commander?" She asked, now with a teasing tone in the voice, instead of annoyance.

"Nothing important Captain, just that you were extremely loyal to earth, and hated telepaths for some reason. Still I don't think you are alone there."

"So there is nothing bad in there about me at all then?"

Petrov smiled, realising now that she was just teasing him. "Surprisingly nothing at all Captain. As far as the Earth Alliance is concerned, there is not a single blemish on your record. Mine on the other hand..."

Susan laughed, "It can't be all that bad Commander."

He shrugged, "No not bad, just not great. But it did get me posted here, and I can't complain about being first officer on the best ship in the Alliance fleet."

"As long as Dr Kozlowski doesn't start pulling it apart and sends us sailing into the sun or something like that."

Petrov laughed, "Indeed Captain, although we seem to be without his presence tonight, he is still down on Mars."

Further comment was prevent however by the sudden arrival of another officer in the room. Susan turned and looked at the newcomer, interested in knowing all her crew.

The new arrival was a woman in the brown uniform of a ground force's major. The woman quickly came to attention and saluted Susan as she entered the room. While she stood there, Susan took the time to examine the major more closely, noting the neat, clean uniform, the shiny black boots, and the short military haircut. "Captain, Major Logan reporting for duty," the Major said in a sharp, clean voice.

Susan returned the Major's salute, but nowhere near as cleanly, her tired body no longer considered a neat salute of any importance. "Welcome aboard Major, I didn't expect you until tomorrow."

"I decided to move the schedule forward a little Captain. I thought it best to have a little time to look around the vessel before the rest of my team arrived. I thought it best if I took a good look around first, checked all the airlocks, docking bays, that sort of thing. That way, when my troops arrive tomorrow I can be ready to set them some training drills straight away."

Susan nodded, accepting the wisdom of this. She certainly wished that she had been given a little more time to look over her new command before they had left Neptune. Instead, she still felt herself almost lost on board, with little knowledge on what went where, or how most of the systems worked. In a way it reminded her of the first time she had been on board a Whitestar vessel, not able to speak Minbari, and having to deal with some very unfamiliar systems.

"Welcome aboard then Major, I am sure your troops will be a valuable addition to our crew. Let me introduce Commander Petrov who will be serving as the first officer on the Rasputin."

Major Logan turned and saluted Petrov. "Commander," she said, acknowledging his presence.

"Welcome aboard Major," Petrov replied with a neat salute of his own. "Why don't you grab something to eat and join us, although I am afraid there is little available except standard rations."

"That will do just fine Commander," Major Logan said, quickly moving across to the dispenser to retrieve a tray of her own. After she had taken a seat at the same table as Susan and Petrov she asked, "do you know when we will be under way?"

Both Susan and Petrov shrugged. "As soon as everyone is on board I believe," Petrov answered. "We will also have to wait until they prepare those two big troop transports you would have seen in orbit."

"Well my girls and boys will all be on board and bunked down by fourteen hundred hours tomorrow at the latest, so you don't need to wait for us."

Susan was about to ask the Major about the condition of her troops when her link beeped. Wondering who could be calling at this time of night she tapped the link. "What is it?"

An unfamiliar voice answered. "Captain, I have General McCarron on channel from Mars High. He is asking to speak to you, and he says that it is important."

Susan managed to avoid groaning, not really wanting to be talking to about anything important right now. She looked apologetically at Major Logan and Petrov. "Looks like duty calls. I will have to talk to you later." Then she turned back to the link. "Put his call through to my station on the bridge, I am on my way."

"Yes Sir, doing that right away," said the anonymous crewman on the link.

Susan hauled herself up out of her chair, and leaving the remains of her meal behind on the table left the room for the short walk to the main bridge.

* * *

Only the faint light from the various consoles lit the bridge when Susan arrived. However, as soon as the sensor built into the floor detected her presence the computers powered up the lights and began to restore warmth to the chilly bridge. As she walked across her chair, Susan realised that the crewman who had contacted her must have called from the computer hub several floors below, which also housed much of the warship's communications suite. She briefly wondered why a bridge crew wasn't being maintained during this watch, before deciding that perhaps there just weren't enough crew on board to maintain an around-the-clock watch yet.

Susan wasn't really worried though, and preferred to be alone while she was speaking to General McCarron, especially if he had something important to talk about, something that she didn't want the crew to know about just yet. This in mind she took her seat at the Captain's station and pressed the button that would complete the transfer of the call.

"General," Susan said deferentially as McCarron's face appeared on the viewscreen.

"Ah Captain, you are still awake after all. I was a bit surprised when your communications officer said that I would be able to speak to you in person. I was planning to just leave a message that you could read when you woke up."

"I was just having a very late dinner General."

"Then I hope I didn't disturb your meal."

Susan shook her head. "No, I was just finishing up. It was only a quick snack before getting some sleep."

"Well I won't keep you long then. I just wanted to bring you up to date on Mr Cox's investigation into the bombing. We have discovered a few things of interest on the body of the gunman, and something that certainly shouldn't have been there."

He quickly shuffled through some papers before bring one up in front of him and reading out its contents. "It seems that the gunman had access to some pretty hi-tech communication's equipment. We found an implant in his ear, and not just one of the normal models available to the public either, this was a highly experimental implant isn't even in regular Earthforce service yet. I don't know how he got hold of it. He was also carrying a disguised long-range transmitter, one of the latest models."

"What is the range of the com equipment," Susan asked.

The General examined his notes. "Very high, it was a ship to surface transmitter. Most of the controls circuits were disguised to look like a button on his jacket and he was wearing a power supply and booster for the unit on his belt. I don't have the specs on the implant, but as it is only a receiver then I suspect it may have a similar range. Mr Cox thinks that the shooters may have been working under the command of someone else, and from what my techs tell me that person could have been anywhere on Mars. So I don't think we are going to have much luck tracking whoever it was down."

"Do you know who the gunman is yet?" Susan asked.

General McCarron nodded, and again consulted his notes. "Yes, he was Harry Lubeck, an ex-marine from Earth. According to his Earthforce record, he left the service about three years ago to work from the Jupiter Mining Company as a security director. I have been in touch with the company and they told me he left their employ a year later, but couldn't give me any further information than that. I have had Cox check around, but haven't come up with any trace on his identicard yet. It looks like wherever he has been it hasn't been inside the Alliance, or he has been using a fake identity."

"Is there anything else that Mr Cox has come up with?"

"That is about it unfortunately. There was actually very little to report on. Neither the PPG rifle or any of other equipment had any serial numbers, so it is almost impossible to trace, although we will do what we can, of course."

"I thought that all PPGs had serial numbers inscribed on the coils when they were created," Susan commented.

"That's true, but this one didn't have anything that would point out where it came from. As far as I know there is no way to remove those numbers either, so the coils in this weapon must have been produced without any identification. That means it has to be a private job, although that seems unlikely given the quality of the weapon. Besides, the specifications for all military grade weapons are classified. The weapons manufacturer, Auricon, is the only company that is supposed to possess the design specifications, and is certainly the only licensed manufacturer."

"So there is no way to track back to find out the maker, or any previous owners then?"

The General shook his head. "No, though judging by the relative newness of most of the rifle parts I doubt that there were any previous owners. It looks like these men may have been given these weapons especially for this job."

Susan looked worried, "that means that whoever was responsible is certainly not short of money. Not only do they have unlicensed weapon, with no serial numbers, but also hi-tech communications equipment, some of which isn't even available to Earthforce yet."

McCarron nodded, "looks that way Captain. I will have Mr Cox investigate further, but I can't promise any results. Anyway, I can confirm that they were not after you, but Ms Morris as we thought. I had a security team on Mars search her apartment and they found several threatening messages stored in her computer. Two of the messages also said that she should stay away from Arisia 3. Does that mean anything to you."

Susan looked even more worried now. "Yes, that was the planet that Ms Morris was interested in. She mentioned it to me, something about her company setting up a Q-40 mine there."

"Hmm, Quantium 40 is valuable enough for more than one company to kill over it in the past, and you own the mining rights to that planet."

"That is what I am worried about General," Susan said, thinking again about the legacy that Marcus had left her. "If they killed Ms Morris then they may come after me next."

"Perhaps, but they may have only killed Ms Morris after her company took an interest in the planet. I haven't had a chance to look at the messages she received, but going on what Mr Cox told me they started off just warning her to stay away from the planet and then only became really threatening in the last day or so. I don't remember you telling me about any threatening messages that you had received."

Susan shook her head. "No I haven't had anything like that. In fact, I never even knew the planet existed before today."

"Well whoever is responsible should leave you alone then. I will have Mr Cox conduct a thorough investigation at this end, but I doubt that he will find much more than he has already. If only we knew who was coordinating the attack, then we would have something to work with. Unfortunately, I doubt we will get much more from the dead gunman. I will authorise a full search, but if this operation is as organised as I think it is then I doubt that we will see any sign of them again."

Susan nodded, and then suddenly remembered something that had been troubling her. "Just one question General, how did they get off the station? I would have thought that all the exits would have been locked down to prevent them from escaping."

General McCarron nodded. "They were, no unauthorised vessels left the station after the bombing. That is a bit of mystery to us as well Captain. Mr Cox has been unable to explain it. All vessels leaving were searched thoroughly and no sign of the three gunmen was found. In fact almost the entire station has been searched and we haven't found a thing."

"Did any vessels leave right after the attack, before the lockdown could have been put in place? The café wasn't far from one of the main shuttle bays."

The General shuffled his papers again. "I don't think so, but I will have to check." He quickly scanned the information in front of him before coming up with the answer. "It looks like one vessel left, but they wouldn't have been on that shuttle."

"Why not, surely everything needs to be checked out."

The General shook his head. "They wouldn't have been on a Psi-Corp shuttle, it would have been hard for them to escape notice there, with all those telepaths on board. Mr. Cox has contacted Psi-Corp to check and they confirm no unauthorised passengers were aboard."

"You are probably right General," Susan said, although in her mind the fact that it was a Psi-Corp shuttle only made it more suspicious. "Mr Anderson, the telepath who is being assigned to the Rasputin wasn't on that shuttle was he?"

General McCarron looked a little surprised as her question, but consulted his notes carefully. "No, according to the records he has his own personal shuttle assigned to him by the Psi-Corp."

"I guess we will just have to hope that Mr Cox finds something then."

"Looks like it captain," McCarron agreed. "Although I might be able to do a little investigating of my own." He picked up a single sheet of paper from his desk and looked at it intently for a few seconds. Without looking up, he continued. "It seems that the Alliance has a listening post near Arisia 3, one that is due for a resupply in a weeks time. It shouldn't be too much trouble to send the supply ship on a quick detour into the Arisia system and see what is going on. If they find anything, I might even be able to organise a proper expedition. According to our records that system has been abandoned since the old mining colony there was destroyed by an industrial accident, so there shouldn't be anything or anyone there."

"Wouldn't a shuttle be detected?" Susan asked, deciding not to bring up the Shadow attack on the mining colony right now.

McCarron shook his head, "not this one. It is one of the old Mako class stealth ships. They are slow, but have almost no energy signature at all. If it is careful, it should be able to slip past most sensors, remember these ships are generally used to resupply our listening posts, so they have to pass undetected. The supply ship has to have as little signature as the listening post itself so neither can be picked up. Of course as it is along the Narn border I don't think we need to worry too much, after all their military is hardly in the best condition at the moment, in fact they only have about ten ships if the reports are correct."

"Not that Earth is much better off," Susan noted grimly.

"No," agreed McCarron. "We are not a lot better off, the civil war cost a lot more than most in the Alliance would like to admit, but there is no need to inform our enemies of that. Not that the Narn are supposed to be our enemies, but you can't trust anyone these day it seems. So much has been happening that I am looking forward to retirement, and a little peace and quiet."

"I guess that is the same reason I asked for the transfer off Babylon 5."

They both sat for a moment, lost in their thoughts before the General continued. "Well I had best leave you to get some sleep then Captain. I imagine will probably have a busy day tomorrow getting your ship and crew ready for the trip to Proxima. I will get back to you if I learn anything more of interest."

Susan groaned as she shut off the link. She had been avoiding thinking about the next day, instead just concentrating on making sure this one was finally over. Tomorrow she would have to organise the arrival of the rest of her crew, possibly deal with telepaths, all of them probably interested only in trying to scan her, and not to mention all the other things that came with the responsibility of being an Earth Alliance Captain.

This in mind she left the bridge, heading back to the officers dining room to clean up her plate, and then hopefully get a good nights rest, although she held out little hope for that.

* * *

Major Logan and Commander Petrov were still in the officer's mess when she returned from the bridge, and one of them must have cleaned up the remains of the meals, as the table was now empty. Susan was about to leave again, but Petrov noticed her before she could back out of the room. "What did the General want?" he asked.

Susan stopped and went over to the table and took a seat. "Nothing much, he was just updating me on the latest information about who was responsible for the bombing."

"Have they discovered who it was?"

Susan shook her head, "no, the station's security haven't been able to discover who it was, except to confirm that the Futurecorp lawyer was the target. General McCarron couldn't tell me who was behind it though."

"Well I guess that is that then, not much use looking any further."

Susan looked at Petrov, annoyed that he would give up so easily. "Why not? I can always do a little investigating on my own. After all it was my planet the lawyer was killed over."

"You own a planet?" Major Logan asked suddenly, barely hiding her interest.

"Well no, just the mining rights. Actually I didn't even know I had that until today, an old friend left it too me before he died."

"That must have been some friend."

Susan's voice took on a slightly distant tone. "Yes he was."

"Well your planet or not, we should leave this to the experts," Petrov put in. "Besides we have to take the Rasputin to Proxima, and don't have any time to investigate anything, no matter how important it is."

"I guess you are right," Susan agreed reluctantly. "I would like to know exactly what is going on, and who is responsible." She turned toward the Major, "I don't suppose you know an ex-marine by the name of Harry Lubeck do you Major?"

Major Logan looked surprised when Susan mentioned the name. "I do actually," she said. "We were stationed on the same base about four years back. A nasty piece of work, why do you ask?"

"He was one of the gunmen involved in the attack on Mars High," Susan said, leaning forward eagerly, hungry for any information that the Major could supply her. "What can you tell me about him."

"Well I can't imagine him as the sort who would get involved in that sort of thing, he wasn't smart enough."

"His name was the one given by the security on the station, and as they would have used his DNA files to check his identity, I don't think they are going to be wrong."

The Major shrugged, "I guess I will take your word for it then. The Harry Lubeck I remember though wasn't smart enough to tie his own shoelaces. He was a thug, and it didn't surprise me when they tossed him out of the Marines."

"Tossed him out," Susan looked surprised. "The General said that he had left, he didn't say anything about him being discharged.

"Well that was the official version, but what really happened was that he attacked one of the officers, claiming he caught him cheating at cards or something like that. The top brass covered up the whole thing, and Harry left, supposably of his own free will, but the story that eventually trickled back down the ranks was that he had been kicked out."

"Why didn't you think he would be involved in the attack today then?" Petrov asked in a curious tone.

Major Logan shrugged, "he was never very good at any sort of covert type operation. In the wargames we had on Mars in 2258, he screwed up really badly and our entire division was knocked out of the battle. As you might imagine, he wasn't the most popular guy around the base after that. All I can say is that he must have improved a lot since then as the Harry Lubeck I knew would not have been able to carry out the operation they were reporting on the news tonight. That was a real professional job."

"Actually he was killed," Susan informed her. "I shot him with a laser rifle, before he could escape."

The Major smiled, "good job then Captain, it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. It's a pity you didn't get his friends as well, but with one of those old laser carbines you did a good job to even hit anything."

Susan looked confused for a moment, and her face crinkled into a frown. "How did you know what weapon I used?" she asked.

Major Logan twisted around to point at the vid screen on the wall. "It has been all over the local networks, someone in security must have leaked the story. Of course, what else would you expect from a civilian organization. The Marines would never let anything slip like that. They didn't say who had been killed though, just that it was one of the gunmen."

Susan groaned and then said in a weary tone, "I suppose they will want another interview now. I am getting rather sick of reporters by now."

"Don't worry Captain," Logan said. "I can take care of them for you. An invitation to investigate the ships airlock should get rid of most of them."

"I am not sure we want to kill them Major," Susan said with a faint smile replacing the frown. "Just keep them away and that will be fine."

"I will see what I can do Captain," the Major replied, before yawning widely. "Right now though I think I might get some sleep. It has been a long trip, and after looking at my quarters here, I think I might grow to like this vessel. Even the marine's bunks are better than I would have expected."

"This ship was made with crew comfort in mind it seems," Petrov noted. "You should see the captain's quarters."

"Perhaps I will sometime," Major Logan said with a glance toward Susan. Then she pushed back her chair and stood, stretching to work out the kinks in her body. "Right now though, I am going to turn in. An hours rest strapped into a seat on a shuttle does not substitute for a good nights rest in a proper bunk."

"I think the Major may be interested in more than just your quarters Captain," Petrov noted after Logan had left the dining room.

Susan shook her head, "I don't think so. Anyway, I am not interested in a relationship with anyone at this time. I have too many other things to worry about."

Petrov shrugged. "I have always found that someone to share my problems with always helps."

"I have always found that having someone to share my problems with has only lead to more problems, at least lately."

Petrov yawned, finally feeling the tiredness that was affecting him as well. "I guess it works both ways," he said before yawning again. "It looks like it is catching. I had better hit my bunk as well, Captain, and I suggest you do the same as well."

Susan nodded and then stood and joined Petrov as he left the room. As they reached the door she turned to the Commander and said, "good night then Commander, I will see you tomorrow. It looks like we will have a lot to do."

Petrov nodded. "It looks that way Captain."

Then they both went their separate ways, Petrov towards the stern and his captain, while Susan went in the opposite direction towards her own cabin. Around them the ship remained quiet as a mouse, with only the dim hum from the lighting giving any sign that it was still operating. The quiet hid the truth though, as behind the walls of the corridor lay thousands of tiny filaments, all carrying data from the myriad of ships systems on the bridge and elsewhere. In the darkness behind the walls, the Rasputin hummed with a life all its own, a life that everyone on board depended on for their existence.

None of this was visible to Susan though as she walked the short distance to her quarters and opened the door to her office. Another few steps and she had passed the inner door entered her actual living quarters. There she paused briefly to shrug off her uniform before collapsing on her soft bed. A few seconds later and she was lost in the oblivion of sleep, comforting darkness closing over her to wash away the tiredness and pain she felt, just as her shower earlier had cleaned off the dust and blood.

* * *


	13. Chapter 13

* * *

**7:32, February 2, 2262, Mars.**

For the first time in what seemed like months, Susan woke peacefully, her dreams untroubled by the nightmares that normally plagued her rest. As her still drowsy mind began to focus, she realised that somehow she had woken up without the need for an alarm call, and a very rare event indeed. Yawning she stretched out, enjoying the softness and warmth of her bed. She still delighted in the feel of blankets and a quilt when she slept, despite the fact that the ship climate control could easily had set the temperature to whatever level she wished. It was a small luxury, but one that she allowed herself whenever possible.

She felt strangely relaxed and comforted, and for once had no memory of what she had dreamed the night before. Usually her almost perfect memory could recall the details of her nightmares, so they could plague her throughout the day. This made two dreams in as many days that she had been unable to recall; perhaps her life was turning around at last. This dream was very different from the one she had experienced while lying under the rubble of the ruined café on Mars High. There was just the faint memory of a beach, a warm sun, and the gentle touch of flesh against flesh. 'Why is it I can never remember the good dreams,' Susan thought to herself with a wry smile as she at dragged herself out of the warm bed and off to face another day.

Her mind quickly focused on other matter though as she saw the time displayed on the screen mounted on the wall of her bedroom. "That can't be right," she said to herself, rubbing her eyes to clear away the last vestiges of sleep. Looking again she realised that the time was correct, and somehow she had overslept by nearly an hour and a half.

"Computer, why didn't my alarm wake me," she asked with a slightly annoyed tone.

The cool, mechanical voice of the ships computer responded at once, "Your alarm call was deactivated."

"What! Who deactivated it?"

"That command was issued by Commander Gregor Petrov at oh one twenty hours this morning."

Susan knew she should be angry with the Commander, but could not argue with his wisdom. She had been through a lot lately, and one night of good sleep wasn't going to hurt her. Turning away from the computer, she opened the sliding doors leading to the rest of her quarters. T here her eyes fell on the packing crates she had bought with her from Babylon 5, still sitting where she had left them several days ago.

Susan sighed, realising that if she was ever going to see this vessel as her new home she would have to eventually unpack her belongings, at least those few she had kept. She thought about finishing the task now, but instead pulled out a fresh uniform and marched off to the bathroom, and a warm, soothing shower.

While she stood in the warm flow of water, she decided to make use of the extra sleep that had been forced on her, instead of heading out straight away. After all if her executive officer had deactivated her alarm then he probably wasn't thinking of seeing her any time soon, so he wouldn't mind her using the time to get settled and unpack her belongings. "And there is nothing wrong with a long shower," Susan muttered to herself as she luxuriated in the warm water.

Eventually, after nearly half an hour she decided that she had taxed the ship's resources enough for one day and forced herself to leave the shower. After drying off she dressed in her uniform, leaving her shirtsleeves unbuttoned for now and the jacket lying over the back of one of the chairs in the lounge. Looking at the two large crates, and one smaller one, lying on the floor she sighed for a moment before forcing herself into the task, opening the first crate and pulling out the clothing she had kept from Babylon 5.

She had never really owned a lot of clothing, usually just her uniforms and one or two good sets of casual clothing for when she was off duty. She piled the meagre contents of her wardrobe onto the bed while she scavenged for hangers to put them on. Fortunately, someone had done good job in supplying her quarters with everything she might need, and she soon had her clothing put away.

The second large crate contained all of the rest of her personal items, including books, cookware, knick-knacks and the rest of the items she had thought important enough to bring with her from Babylon 5. Finally, she pulled the foam wrapped packages that contained her certificates of promotion. After looking proudly at the one that proclaimed her promotion to captain for a moment she put them aside to place in her office later, along with the two painting she had though good enough to keep.

It took her nearly another half an hour to put everything away in its correct places, but even when it was done the rooms of her quarters still looked empty and barren and she was reminded of exactly how little she had actually kept from her old quarters. Still, she had arrived on Babylon 5 with much less, and while she no longer had a handy shopped district like Babylon 5's Zocalo, she imagined she would find time in the months to come to do a little shopping.

Pushing the now empty crates into the equally empty storeroom she turned to the last crate, the one John had sent her. Opening it up she pulled out the Minbari clothing that John and Delenn had sent her held it briefly against one cheek again to feel the soft fabric before placing them in the wardrobe with her uniforms and the rest of her clothing. G'Kar's Narn cookware she put on a shelf in the small kitchen, admiring the way the dark earthen tones of the pottery dominated the dull room.

Londo's bottles of brevare she eyed suspiciously before placing on a shelf in the lounge room, next to a vase her mother had once owned. She wasn't sure if Centauri wine was actually fit for human consumption, but the light shining through the reddish-yellow liquid did have a nice effect. Perhaps if she ever had someone visiting she could test its effects on humans, especially if it was someone she didn't like, for some reason immediately thinking of the Psi-Cop Bester.

Dismissing those thoughts as idle fantasy she quickly flicked through the rest of the items in the crate, eager to be done with the job of unpacking and back to her real job. The music data crystals Franklin had sent her she scattered around the player in her bedroom, making another mental note to listen to them sometime. Garibaldi's data crystals she dumped in the bottom of one of her drawers along with the Daffy Duck boxer shorts he had sent her. As she did so, something fell out of one of the pockets and onto the ground.

Reaching down she picked up another data crystal, this one wrapped in a piece of paper. Susan pulled the paper away from the crystal and scanned the writing, reading it out load as she did so.

_Susan,  
_

_I thought you might find this interesting._

_G._

Slipping the paper into her pant's pocket she slipped the data crystal into the player. Instead of a message, all that appeared on the screen is what looked a lot like static. Frowning she pulled the crystal out of the player and tried it again, but with the same results. 'There must be something on it,' she thought, realising that if the crystal had been blank the screen would not have displayed anything at all. Susan tried several more attempts, asking the computer to filter out any interference it could find. There was nothing though and she finally gave up in frustration, tugging the crystal out of the reader in annoyance.

Opening up the drawer where she had tossed the rest of the Garibaldi's data crystals was about to place this one in there as well. As she did though, Susan noticed a strange marking on the bottom of the crystal. Data crystals were not usually marked at all, as it interfered with the storage process. Usually if an identifying mark was needed a label was added. This one though had a peculiar symbol etched into the crystal. She looked at it closely, noticing that it appear strangely familiar. After staring at it for several seconds, the symbol's origin came to mind. It was Vorlon, in fact one of the symbols she had seen adorning Kosh's ship. Unfortunately, she didn't read Vorlon, so that wasn't much assistance.

Placing the crystal back in the drawer with the others, she pushed it shut and glance up at her clock again. It now read nearly ten, which meant that she had managed to waste another hour and a half of her normal day. Slightly annoyed with herself she forgot about the reason she had been taking the time off in the first place and hurried about the lounge room straightening everything while at the same time trying to pull on her jacket and button up her shirt sleeve. Finally she managed to get that all done and after tucking her framed certificates under one arm hurried from her quarters and into her office.

After sliding her data card into the door lock to ensure the door to her quarters was secured Susan placed her certificates on her desk in a haphazard manner and sat down at in her chair, ready to get on with the day ahead. She was nearly three hours late, when compared to her normal start time, but it appeared that her slate was clean this morning, with very little scheduled to keep her occupied. "More of Petrov's work probably," she muttered softly to herself as she scrolled down the list of messages, choosing what to read and what to discard.

The first message was a vid message from Commander Petrov, so she opened it.

_"Good morning Captain, or afternoon as it may well be. I'm sorry to have to force you to take some rest like that, but as your executive officer it is my job to ensure that you are fully rested and ready to do your job, and after all that happened yesterday I didn't think that you would be without a good night's sleep. Anyway, just letting you know who was responsible for deactivating your alarm, although you will probably know that by now. I don't intend on making a habit of this, but I thought that just once you wouldn't mind a sleep in. Don't worry about being late I have taken care of most things for the morning, not that there is anything that requires your presence right now anyway. I will expect you for lunch, but no sooner hopefully."_

Susan decided to forgive him. After all, she had enjoyed sleeping that extra hour or so, and as Petrov had said in his message, it wasn't like there was a lot going on. Still as the ship's captain, Susan thought she should set an example and that meant not sleeping in while the rest of her crew was busy working. Fortunately, she had learnt a few tricks on Babylon 5 and after bringing up the computer's service menu quickly deactivated the Commander's access to her person systems, ensuring that he never had the chance to do anything like that again.

"I guess there are some bonuses to working with Mr Garibaldi after all," Susan said to herself as she smiled at a job well done. She didn't like having to do that, especially as she wanted to get alone with her new crew. However, she liked people altering her computer settings even less.

Closing down the service menu she quickly scanned the rest of the messages, noticing one was a report about the final repairs to the artificial gravity system, while the rest were information about new crew members and lists of supplies bought in on the latest cargo shuttles. She quickly scanned the cargo lists and deleted them. The crew dossiers she filed for later reference, seeing nothing that required her immediate attention. That done there was only one message left on her computer left to read and eager to be done she opened that.

The repair report indicated that the artificial gravity system was now operating at its optimum, which meant that it was still less that perfect, but at least it was working now. Gravity was stable across all decks and there were no longer any fluctuations as the power supply rose and fell. Attached to the report were several suggestions from the chief engineer Philip Moore on how to improve the system. She scanned them, but found little in the files that she even understood so quickly decided not to authorise any alterations until she knew more. She trusted her new chief engineer more than she did Kozlowski, but with the Rasputin due to depart for Proxima III shortly, this was hardly the time for upgrading the systems. For a moment she thought about sending off a message asking for more information but dismissed that idea when she realised that such an action would probably result in a flood of reports from engineering, none of which she would understand any better.

Finishing with the last of the reports she sat back in her chair spun around to look at the barren room. Petrov had wanted her to take the entire morning off, but after a couple of minutes sitting in her chair doing nothing as she was seriously contemplating watching some of the films on the data crystals Garibaldi had sent her. That probably wouldn't be a good idea though, and would only leave her hot and bothered. For another minute she sat and idly swirled her finger across the screen, absently drawing shapes of the console. As she sat there, thoughts slowly began to slip back to the past and unbeknownst to her she began to trace a face with her finger, gently, and with soft caressing touches.

Her pleasant daydreams ended abruptly though as a harsh beeping sound cut into her thoughts. Glancing up she noticed that the screen on her desk was now displaying a flashing indicator indicating an important message. She tapped the control on her desk that would bring up the message and noticed with some confusion that it was text only, and that it had no source listed. This was most unusual, as she would not expect an anonymous message on an Earth Alliance warship. The security system had been designed to always tag a message with a code indicating it's source to prevent false orders from being sent. This message though had no code, no source, and no sender's address. Despite her trepidation about what the message may contain Susan opened it and slowly read the words as they filled the screen.

_"If you want to know why Futurecorp was interested in Arisia 3 then come to the Lazarus Casino in New Vegas today at 14:30. Sit in the main restaurant area, and I will contact you there. Look for someone wearing a Futurecorp badge. Come alone and without a weapon or the meeting is off."_

That was it, no name or anything that might identify the send, just the message. Susan thought for a moment and then pressed the button for a hard copy and waited while the printer slid out the small piece of recycled paper containing the message on the screen.

Susan sat back and considered the message for a minute. She knew now that there was more to the attack at the cafe yesterday than just an assassination of a business rival. Anyone capable of cutting though Earthforce's security to send an anonymous message either had access to some very sophisticated technology or a very good hacker. That would suggest a lot of money and therefore either one of the big companies or the Martian Mafia. Susan didn't really want to have anything to do with either, but she was interested in finding out why the lawyer had been killed, and why exactly Futurecorp had been interested in what was, according to the Earth Alliance records, a fairly worthless mining lease. They had certainly been interested enough to offer enough money to allow her to retire from Earthforce and live comfortably for the rest of her days should she wish.

Pocketing the slip of paper, Susan rose and left the room, making up her mind to go to the meeting, despite the fact it was possibly a trap. There were too many unanswered questions about yesterday's events, and she didn't like that one bit. More pressing concerns caught her attention though as her stomach gave a hungry rumble and she decided that the shuttle bay via the dining room might not be a bad idea. The message had said the meeting was at two thirty in the afternoon, so that still left her with plenty of time to get there.

As she left the room Susan's mind was so occupied with thoughts about the message that she did not notice the message on the screen quietly deleting itself, ensuring that there was no way it could possibly be traced now.

* * *

The officer's dining room was empty by the time Susan arrived, as she expected it would be this late in the morning. Still she didn't really mind eating alone. In fact, she quite enjoyed it. There was little enough time on board a starship when it's captain could be alone, so every little bit helped. Still she had other things on her mind this morning, namely the message she had just received.

She was still undecided exactly what to do about it. She wanted to discover the reasons behind the attack on the station, but the way the message had been sent troubled her greatly. Susan wouldn't have counted herself as an amateur in regards to the workings of the communications system, having several times circumvented normal procedure to bypass the security system on Babylon 5 when her father was dying. Even then, the messages she sent had not been anonymous. In fact, the only way she knew to get an anonymous message through Earthforce's security system was is if both sides agreed on the system before hand. During the civil war, it had been possible for the resistance on Mars to send almost untraceable messages to Babylon 5, but that was only after both sides had agreed on frequencies and transmission times.

Given the general emphasis Earthforce placed on security in communication at the moment it wasn't likely that someone from the outside had managed to break their code and send the message, which meant that someone within Earthforce or the government had sent it, or at the very least someone with a expert's knowledge about Earthforce security systems. Both answers were equally troubling, especially as the message was supposed to come from someone in Futurecorp, or at least it was structured to give that impression. Following her reasoning Susan now thought that was unlikely, which meant that someone else had sent the message and it was most likely a trap, unless there was some sort of conspiracy and someone on the inside was trying to pass on information to her so she could break it wide open.

Sighing deeply at the confusing choices she faced Susan walked over to the dispenser to see what glories the autochef had managed to cook up for her breakfast today. As expected, the food was little more than the normal artificial slush that was served on most Earthforce vessels, nutritious but not very appetising. She picked up a plate though and took a seat near the vid screen, which someone had left running.

ISN was the channel currently selected and they were running a story about an IPX expedition into Vorlon space, which didn't sound like a particularly good idea to Susan. Still now that the Vorlons were gone, it was bound to happen sooner or later, she could only hope that she wouldn't have to be the one sent to rescue them when they got themselves into trouble, and sooner or later they would. She could still vividly remember the horror unleashed on Babylon 5 when they had activated the alien device they found in hyperspace and nearly bought about the end of this galaxy. Although quick thinking on the part of Sheridan and the rest of the crew had managed to save the day she still was very sceptical of the methods of the IPX staff, they were too quick to make decisions and did not think things through thoroughly enough for her liking.

On the screen, the ISN reporter was interviewing a Captain Lawton who was about to take command of the mission, and had Susan been less concerned about other matters she might have found it interesting. Instead, it was just an annoyance, and the whole idea gave her cold chills, so she shut down the screen and dug into her meal.

As expected her meal was nothing spectacular, but it did take her mind off other matters for a while and focused it instead on the nature of her food. Somewhere, on Proxima III or one of the other colonies there was a vast vat where the protein that made up her meal was grown. Few people could afford real food any more, preferring instead the cheaper artificial food which was really nothing more than the necessary proteins and nutrients mixed together with colouring and flavour and then repackaged into a hundred different forms. It sustained life, but it wasn't what she liked to eat, especially after being spoiled on Babylon 5 with fresh fruits and vegetables from the hydroponics gardens.

Susan resolved to put thoughts of the origins of her meal into the deepest recesses of her mind and focus instead on the taste, which really wasn't bad. That done she quickly polished off her meal and was about to clear away the plate when her linked beeped. Tapping the receive button she said, "yes what is it?"

A slightly hesitant, voice at the other end responded, "sorry to disturb you captain but Lieutenant-Commander Schmitt was wondering if you would like to join him in the shuttle bay. There is a shuttle coming in from Earth soon with some of the new Starfury pilots on board and he was wondering if you wouldn't mind coming down and greet them personally."

"Tell him I will be down in a few minutes," Susan said, clearing away what was left of her meal and heading towards the exit. She paused only for the small amount of time that it took to switch off the vid screen before heading for the lift down to the lower decks.

No sooner had she walked off the lift into the shuttle bay before she had a data pad shoved towards her by a young duty officer who was waiting for her. Looking at the pad, she noticed it contained a list of names and one, a Lieutenant Audrey Schmitt immediately caught her attention. 'No wonder the Lieutenant-Commander wanted me to meet the shuttle,' she thought with a brief smile lighting up her face. Looking up from the pad she caught the eye of the duty officer and asked, "where can I find Lieutenant-Commander Schmitt?"

"He asked me to direct you to him Captain," the NCO replied.

"Lead on then."

"Yes Captain," he said with a slightly sloppy salute that Susan barely even noticed. "If you will just follow me."

The duty officer led her across to a small gathering on the far side of the shuttle bay, which just yesterday had been hidden behind a stack of crates and other containers. Obviously, her crew had been busy this morning. Waiting for her were Lieutenant-Commander Alister Schmitt, Commander Gregor Petrov, and her chief engineer Philip Moore, who looked like he had just come from the engine room with a streak of black grease running down one side of his uniform.

Alister Schmitt was in an animated discussion with the other officers about a sporting event of some kind, at least that was all Susan could make out before they noticed her and ended their conversation to welcome their Captain. "Good of you to come Captain," Alister said in a jovial tone.

Susan also noticed that he was wearing his best uniform and his boots were polished so bright she was beginning to wonder if perhaps some sort of warning should be put on them, especially with the light from huge shuttle bay spotlights shining off them. Walking up to the group, she also noticed that Commander Petrov was looking a little concerned. 'Probably worried if I am going to chew him out after what he did,' she thought. Having put the morning to good use anyway she had already decided not to say anything. Looking over at Alister she said, "you are looking a little different this morning Lieutenant-Commander. If I didn't know better, I would have thought that an admiral was coming to visit instead of just a shuttle load of pilots. Is there something I should know."

"Nothing important Captain, I just cleaned my uniform and boots this morning that's all," was the response, but for some reason Alister could not keep a cheerful smile off his face.

"I see," Susan said with an answering smile. She turned and looked at the rest of the officers. "So what were you all discussing when I got here?"

"Nothing important," Petrov answered. "Just talking about the latest football results from the qualifying rounds of the world cup, then Phillip here started an argument about who had the right to call their sport football and that was about when you arrived."

Susan sent a quizzical look the engineer's way as he hurried to explain. "What I was saying Captain is that soccer doesn't have the right to be the only sport called football, what about rugby?"

Susan shook her head in amusement, "well to tell you the truth gentlemen I have never really been that interested in sport. There are other more important things in life for me."

"Like basketball," Petrov said.

Further argument, however playful, was put on hold though as the red light above the right airlock came on, indicating that a shuttle was inbound. Shortly afterwards another light came on over the second airlock. "Well it certainly seems to be busy this morning," Susan said. "Which shuttle are you all waiting for?"

Alister pointed towards the right airlock. "That one I believe. I don't know what the other shuttle is, but it is probably just another cargo transport. We've had a few lately as you might have noticed."

Susan nodded and they all stood there quietly as the airlock doors opened and the large shuttle was carried across the bay by the giant claw-like magnetic clamps that hung from the ceiling. As the clamp receded to pick up the other incoming shuttle in airlock two the ground crew ran up with a portable ladder so the newly arrived pilots could disembark. In ones and twos, they did so, all carrying heavy looking bags of personal equipment.

Despite the long trip from Earth, most still looked fresh and awake. Susan felt faintly disgusted thinking that they probably got more sleep on the shuttle than she did most nights. Still she smiled and greeted each of the new arrivals one by one, as they filed off the shuttle, as did Alister who would be their direct commander on the Rasputin. As she greeted them she was briefly reminded of the fighter pilots on Babylon 5, how they had looked before the wars and how different they were now. These men and woman showed just as much experience, and behind every face, she could see the hardness that only came with experience in battle.

One of the last off the shuttle was a tall woman in the uniform of a lieutenant. Susan was immediately taken by the resemblance between her flight commander and the pilot. Both were tall, and their eyes were the same shade of brown. The young pilot was even more excitable than her father and wasted no time professing her pleasure at being assigned to the Rasputin. With Alister, she was even less reserved, throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him while Susan and the other officers pretended not to notice.

After Audrey and the other pilots had left, Susan turned to her flight commander and said, "a friend of yours Mr Schmitt?"

He nodded, "umm yes, my daughter actually Captain. She had just finished training at the academy and asked to be posted here."

Petrov raised an eyebrow. "And Earthforce agreed?"

Alister nodded again then looked at the Commander with a slight grin covering his face. "Well actually I was allowed to choose which pilots were going to serve under me."

"I understand completely Lieutenant-Commander," Susan said. "It can be difficult serving away from your families. Just make sure her presence does not interfere with your job."

"I won't captain," Alister assured her.

"Good," Susan said turning around to watch the activity in the shuttle bay. The small crowd of fighter pilots had swaggered off in the direction of the lifts where one of the crewmen was busy directing them towards their quarters and all the necessary amenities.

By now the second shuttle, a small atmospheric model that Susan recognised as one of the Rasputin's own, had arrived and been lowered onto the deck on the far side of the shuttle bay. It's single occupant turned out to be Dr Nathan Kozlowski, who didn't waste time with greetings. Instead, he hurried off towards the lifts, his face almost hidden behind a large pile of plastic covered packages he carried in his arms. Susan frowned as she saw him and muttered, "what the hell is he up to now."

Philip heard her comment and replied, "I believe the doctor is working on some new special project. I don't know what it is, he hasn't told anyone yet. I asked him yesterday and all he said was that it was a hard nut to crack."

Susan frown grew even deeper. "This doesn't have anything to do with him stealing tools off our maintenance crews does it? I thought he was here to keep an eye on the running of this vessel as part of its testing, not to start hindering its day-to-day operations. Perhaps you would like to have a word with him sometime to make sure he works on any of his projects strictly in his own time."

"I will take care of it Captain," the engineer assured her.

"Well if that's it for crew arrivals for a while I guess I had better get back to work," Petrov cut in. "I still have to arrange quarters for fifty new pilots and a hundred other things that have to be done before we will be ready to get under way."

"Actually there is one other thing I wanted to discuss with you Commander," she said, handing Petrov the slip of paper containing the message she had been sent. "Someone sent this to me this morning, as an anonymous message. I was wondering what your opinion was."

Petrov scanned the short message before replying. "This was an anonymous message?" he asked cautiously.

As Susan nodded, Philip Moore who was still standing nearby broke in to their conversation. "I didn't think it was possible to send an anonymous message to an Earth Alliance warship. I mean, I don't understand the security systems as well as I could, but it should be fairly secure."

"Well someone did," Susan said. "I don't know how but they managed to do it."

"Amazing," Philip said shaking his head. "I mean I know it is possible to do within a closed system, in fact quite easy if you know how, all you need is the correct pass codes. An anonymous message from outside the system is supposed to be near impossible, as the security codes are hard-coded into the communications system. Are you sure it was completely anonymous, there was no source indicated?"

Susan shook her head. "No. It was completely anonymous with no indication at all of where it came from."

"And that makes me inclined the think you shouldn't have anything to do with whoever sent this message," Petrov said. "After all if it was legitimate they would hardly be sending anonymous messages to Earthforce vessels."

"Still I am thinking of going anyway just to make sure. It is possible that the message is real and there is lot more to the whole situation that I originally thought."

Petrov shook his head in disagreement. "I am not sure I can agree with that Captain, New Vegas is hardly a safe place. If it was on Mars High or one of the other areas where Earthforce still has some presence maybe, but New Vegas... that place is a haven of criminals, rebels, and who knows what else."

"I would have to agree with the Commander Captain," Philip said, although he sounded less sure.

"Well I don't." Everyone turned at looked at Alister, most of them having forgotten he was there. The flight commander looked a little nervous at all the attention but forged on with his argument. "I mean where is your spirit of adventure. Even if this message is a hoax there is little they can do to the Captain in a crowded casino, and if it isn't and you don't go then you miss out on a valuable opportunity."

"I still don't like the idea," Petrov said with a growing frown. "It is too dangerous."

"Perhaps," Susan agreed. "But it is an opportunity I don't think I can afford to give up."

Petrov still didn't look happy. "Very well Captain, but I will have to insist that you take a couple of Major Logan's marines along with for protection."

Now it was Susan's turn to look unhappy. "But the message did say to come alone."

"Nevertheless I still think you should take them. They don't have to be with out when you meet whoever sent this message, but having them in the casino just in case can't hurt."

Susan nodded in agreement. "Ok, can you let Major Logan know and get her to assign a couple of her men, and ask her to make them look as least something like tourists at least so whoever sent this message doesn't get too suspicious. If he spots them anyway, well then I'll worry about that when it happens. The message says to be there are fourteen thirty which is," Susan looked down at her link, which along it's other functions also has a small digital display built into it, "just over three hours from now. Ask the major to meet me back down her in an hour, I will prepare a shuttle for launch."

"Yes Captain," Petrov said with a smart salute before walking quickly towards the lift.

"Well I have to get back to my station, Captain," Philip Moore said. "Good luck down there."

"I can only hope I don't need it."

"A good pilot makes his own luck Captain," Alister cut in. "Come let's pick out a good shuttle. I assume you'll want to fly it yourself."

Susan thought about that for a moment before responding, "yes, I think I will. It is has been a while since I flew anything. I will need a co-pilot though, just in case."

Alister nodded as he consulted a data pad that he had pulled unseen from a pocket. "Hmm it looks like shuttle 3 is already prepped and refuelled. I will give you that one, and mark it down as being on a test run just in case anyone asks."

"That is probably for the best," Susan said, slightly despondently. "At least then if something goes wrong I won't get anyone in trouble."

"That is not a very good attitude to take Captain," Alister chided her. "After all as the old saying goes, nothing ventured, nothing gained. It is sort of my philosophy really."

Susan smiled despite the worry that was eating away at her inside. "I am afraid I am a little more pessimistic than you Lieutenant-Commander, and perhaps after the way everything has been turning out lately I think I have good reason to."

Alister shook his head with a wry smile on his face. "Well at least you are alive Captain, and as long as you are still alive things can not be that bad."

"I might disagree with you on that."

"Then you do not understand the philosophy of a fighter pilot," the flight commander said, now with a broad smile on his face. "If I get time sometime I will tell you. It is the philosophy I live my life by, and it has worked out so far. Although I am still only a Lieutenant Commander, so maybe it is not foolproof. Still the way I see things Captain everything works out for the best eventually."

"And if it doesn't?" Susan asked.

The flight commander shrugged. "Then you are dead."

"Being dead isn't going to help me much."

"Well perhaps not, but you won't have to worry about anything any more, you won't be able to." They both pulled up outside the doors leading into the smaller shuttle bays that held three of the six atmospheric shuttles. To free up space in the main shuttle bay the smaller shuttles had been given their own bays. Susan wasn't exactly sure on the wisdom of that decision, but it did make launching the shuttles a lot quicker as all that had to be done was to depressurise the smaller bay and open the outer doors, avoiding the messy process of the airlock in the main bay.

"I guess that is one way of looking at things," Susan said with a smile of her own, appreciating the humour in the flight commanders words.

"Indeed it is Captain," Alister said as he opened the door leading into shuttle bay 3. "Now lets get this shuttle ready to launch, we have some work to do if you are going to get there on time."

* * *

Dr Nathan Kozlowski's quarters were like his mind, cluttered, but full of all sorts of useful junk. The room was dominated by a large desk, covered with the doctor's latest notes, inventions, and the equipment for vital repairs. The standard blank walls found in all the other ships rooms were hidden behind large shelves that covered all the walls. These shelves were piled high with even more paper, old models of the Rasputin, engine parts, and a lot more junk. There was even a small portable fusion reactor sitting on one shelf, right next to the fish tank in which a single, unhappy looking goldfish swam in endless circles.

None of this mattered to Nathan though as he swept everything on his desk into a small storage crate and placed the now full crate onto one of the shelves. Then with the space made available he gathered up the packages that he had dropped near the door earlier and placed them on the desk instead, eager to unwrap them. Like a child at Christmas time, he tore into the plastic covering and tossed it aside, before sorting through the components and tools he had bought with him from Mars.

It has taken him nearly a day but he had finally managed to locate all the necessary components in the Earthforce storage depot. Of course sneaking them past the depot's quartermaster had taken much longer, but he had eventually managed it. So far the strange alien rock, or device, or whatever it was, had managed to resist everything he had thrown at it, but he was only just getting started. Rummaging through a chest that sat on the floor next to his bed, he pulled out a radiation suit. After pulling the suit on over his clothing, he made sure the door to his quarters was securely closed before opening his packages and beginning to work.

* * *

The small atmospheric shuttle touched down delicately on the long landing strip outside the New Vegas dome, it's arrival going almost unnoticed among the steady traffic of other shuttles, ground vehicles, and monorail cars. Mars may only have a population of around two million, but right now, it seemed that a large percentage of that population was here with Susan in New Vegas.

The flight had been without any major dramas, and Susan had found it strangely relaxing, well except for the almost continuos chatter from her co-pilot, a middle aged former civilian pilot who had only recently signed up with Earthforce after his taxi business went bust during the war. He was a likeable enough man, but his ability to talk about seemingly minor details did not make him a friend in his Captain.

Fortunately, after that they had enter the Martian atmosphere and both had been forced to keep an eye open for other traffic. The controllers on Mars High though kept her informed correctly and Susan's managed to avoid any contact with other fliers as she manoeuvred her vessel into an almost perfect landing.

Now she was on the planet, walking toward the casino where the meeting was supposed to be held, in the company of Major Lillian Logan and two Marines who, although they had dressed casually, still looked like they were on parade. She hadn't originally intended on taking the Major along was well, but after she had insisted Susan didn't really feel like arguing, especially against someone who looked like they every intention of not budging for their position.

Looking around her Susan was reminded of how out of place she probably looked in the city and it's glittering buildings and equally glittering residents. Her destination, the Lazarus Casino, was not one of the largest in New Vegas. That title went to the Crown Casino, which dominated the city in both size and glamour. However, Lazarus was one of the more popular and well known casinos, having been built into the northern side of the dome during the city's construction, so it was possible to look out over the Martian landscape while you gambled. It was also close to the shuttle landing strip so passengers could easily find their way on foot instead of having to take a taxi or shuttle bus across the dome to one of the other casinos.

Susan would have thought that this would have made it popular, but it was remarkable quiet outside as she walked through the large bronzed doors. Of course, it would likely liven up later on that day when the last shift from the factories knocked off for the night and the workers, their credit chits flushed with hard-earned money, would ride the transport tubes from across Mars to New Vegas.

After passing the two hulking security men who scanned everyone who enter for weapons Susan found that her initial thoughts from the outside were wrong and the casino was actually a lot busier than she expect. Unknown to her the casino had another larger entrance built below the building, opening out into the New Vegas terminal for the Martian wide transport system. Not knowing quite where to go she asked directions to the restaurant and after being pointed in the right direction by one of the many security men who were scattered around the building headed off towards her destination with her three protectors close behind.

Fortunately, the restaurant was almost empty with most of the casino's patrons busy in the other parts of the building, or still in their hotel rooms far above, sleeping off their previous night's activities. Spotting a smaller bar off to one side of the main eating area Susan led her companions towards it. The bar was raised above the main restaurant and it would provide a good view of anything that happened below.

"I think you should wait here Major," Susan said, pointing at an unoccupied table that overlooked the sunken eating area below. "After all I don't want you to scare off this guy, whoever he is."

The Major looked concerned. " I am not sure that is a good idea Captain, what if he has a weapon. I am not sure I would be able to reach you in time."

Susan smiled. "I don't think he would be able to get past the scanners would he now." She pointed towards the main door where it was still just possible to see the hulking shapes of the two security men holding the portable scanners that had been used on everyone entering the building.

"Anyone can fool the scanners Captain," the major replied, slowly opening her jacket to show Susan a glimpse of the blunt shape of a small PPG in its holster beneath her arm. "It just takes a little skill. That and a good Earthforce issue jammer."

"Put that away," Susan whispered, nodding towards the nearby security men. "I don't think they would be too happy to find you waving a gun around inside their casino.

Lily glanced in the direction of the security and smiled at Susan's concerns. "Don't worry Captain. They can't see us from here. Besides I am hardly waving it around."

"I still think you should wait here, it will less suspicious for our friend, whoever he is."

In response, the Major shrugged and took a seat at the nearest table, indicating for her men to do the same. As they sat down, Lily looked back up at Susan and said, "As you wish Captain, but do try to be careful. I will do what I can to protect you, but it will be difficult to do anything if this guy pulls a gun on you instead of talking."

"I will be as careful as I possible can," Susan said as she walked away from the bar and took the short set of stairs down into the sunken restaurant. There she took a seat up against one of the large windows that looked out over the barren red Martian landscape. It was a glorious view, but Susan was too concerned about the upcoming meeting to enjoy it properly.

It was actually a very nice restaurant, despite currently being empty. Crystal chandeliers, which much have cost the Casino's owners a fortune, hung from the high ceiling and the seat Susan currently found herself sitting in was soft and comforting, not at all like the hard Earthforce issue seating in the Rasputin's dining room. On the far side of the restaurant, beneath the raised bar area, was a stage for a band or other entertainment. It was currently as empty as the restaurant though.

In fact in the entire place the only people present were herself, the major and her men, and a fat Centauri tourist who was sitting on a table of his own near the bar. An impressive feast was spread out on the table in front of him, and one of the two waiters who serviced the room was currently taking an order from him for even more food.

After several minutes of sitting quietly on her own, she saw a waiter approaching with a tray bearing a drink. After placing it on a coaster, he put in on her table. She tried to argue that she had not ordered anything, but he waved away her arguments by saying, "it is compliments of our other guest this afternoon Captain." He directed her attention to the Centauri tourist who, seeing her looking in his direction, raised his glass in a salute. Susan returned his salute, and almost breathed a sigh of relief when he did not make any move to join her, instead returning to his meal. T he last thing she wanted to do now was trade conversation with a Centauri, unless he was her contact of course.

That thought in mind she examined the Centauri closer, but could not see anything of real interest about him. He was larger than most Centauri, who tended to be slim. One look at the meal on his table though, and Susan could see the reason for his weight. The table in front of him was piled high with plates of food, including what looked like an entire apple pie sitting off to one side. Susan chuckled to herself under her breath, wondering with no small amount of amazement how one person could eat so much, even a Centauri, well known for their love of good living.

Thoughts of the Centauri were soon lost though as she continued to wait for her contact to arrive, assuming he was going to arrive at all and the whole thing was not just some sort of wild goose chase. She picked up her drink and looked at it for a moment, gently swirling the glass so the ice rolled around reflecting the light from the chandelier above. She didn't really want to drink anything right now, preferring to keep a clear head in case she had to act quickly. Instead, she just watched the light playing off the ice cubes.

Susan was still looking at the ice in her drink ten minutes later when suddenly the chair opposite her slid back with a loud grating sound. She looked up at the noise and watched as a man, dressed in a light grey suit, sat down at her table. On the lapel of his suit was a badge bearing the circular Futurecorp logo. Once seated he leaned forward and asked in a low voice, "Captain Ivanova?"

After she nodded in confirmation he let out a small sigh of relief. "I wasn't sure that you would come. It was a slightly unusual method I used to contact you, but I couldn't allow anyone else to know I was here or my life would be over."

"I can understand your concerns Mr?" Susan looked at him, waiting for him to fill in his name.

"Mr Black, Arnold Black. I work for Futurecorp and after what happened on the Mars station I knew I had to tell someone. There is so much going on that I couldn't just stand by and let them get away with killing Julia. Then I thought of you, and knew you would be the person to tell."

"Why don't you start at the beginning Mr Black and tell me what exactly is going on."

He looked hesitant for a moment and then asked her, "How much do you know so far. If you tell me what Julia passed on to you I can fill in the blanks a little quicker."

Susan thought back to what the lawyer had told her, and realised it had been precious little. "I don't really know anything Mr Black. All your lawyer told me was that she was interested in buying a planet called Arisia 3, which up until that moment I didn't even know existed. Then as I was making a call to check on some details the gunmen appeared and started shooting up the place."

Her contact nodded, "so you didn't hear anything about The Project, or Project A3?"

Susan shook her head, "no nothing like that."

He leaned closer, his eyes narrowing as he did so. "Are you sure Captain? Project A3, the name means nothing to you?"

Susan felt a sudden tingle running up her spine as he spoke and realised with horror that he was scanning her. "You're a telepath," she hissed in surprise.

"How did you know that?" he asked suspiciously, his eyes narrowing.

Susan pushed back her chair and made a move to run away as fast as she could, but before she could leave her seat the telepath's left hand grabbed her arm, while his right came up from beneath the table, clutching a small, but still lethal looking, weapon.

"I don't think you are going anywhere Captain. My superiors are most interested in you." His eyes narrowed even further and an evil grin began to spread across his face as he pointed the weapon towards her, slowly squeezing the trigger, making sure Susan could see everything he was doing. "Now don't move Captain, I don't want this to get messy."

Before the weapon could fire though a large, meaty hand came down suddenly and grasped his wrist, and with a sickening crunch of bone twisted it upwards sharply. The gun fired, sending it's small stun dart shooting safely into the ceiling and out of harms way. The large hand then released the telepath's wrist, allowing his hand to flop downwards, the weapon slipping from now senseless digits. Before the telepath could react, the same hand gripped the front of his shirt and hauled him bodily from his chair and onto his feet.

Susan lifted her eyes, following the hand along its large muscled arm to the body of a heavily built man who now stood beside the table. He was dressed in the uniform of the casino security, a uniform that was stretched tight across an impressive body that appeared to be mostly muscle. With a snarl at the whimpering telepath, the security officer dragged him away, taking little notice of the way the telepath clutched his broken hand and cried out in pain.

Behind her, Susan was aware of the sounds of running footsteps and glancing around saw Major Logan, followed closely by the two marines that had accompanied her, hurrying across the nearly empty room towards Susan's table. Susan turned around and looked back towards the security officer, watching him dragging the telepath across the bar towards a side exit. The fat Centauri she had noticed earlier was following the pair, an outrageous red and green cape flowing out behind him as he hurried to catch up with them. Even from her location, she could hear the telepath's complaints, but it must have been a common occurrence as none of the waiters or other staff seemed to be interested in what was going on around them.

Any further view of what was occurring was blocked by the sudden appearance of a gold suit directly in front of her. Looking up into the face of the owner of the suit Susan was confronted by a tall, thin man with dark, slicked back hair and what appeared to be a permanent facial tick.

"Captain Ivanova?" the man asked, extending perfectly manicured hand in her direction.

Susan took his hand, intending on shaking it, but he turned her hand around and raised it to his lips. "And you are?" she asked calmly, despite the fear she felt inside at what was going to happen to her now if the telepath had detected her own latent telepathic abilities.

"Andre Manavis," the man said, still holding her hand in his. "I am the owner of this establishment and I must apologise for this incident Captain, had I known that man was a telepath I wouldn't have allowed him inside, and I can not image how he managed to sneak a weapon past my sensors."

"How did you know he was a telepath?" she asked sharply.

Manavis gave her a slick smile and pointed in the direction of the departing Centauri. "I have my own telepath, one that doesn't belong to Psi-Corp. It makes things a little easier to run my business and no one suspects anything. Of course, you won't tell Psi-Corp now, will you?"

"I don't have a lot of dealings with the Psi-Corp Mr Manavis," Susan replied.

He nodded. "Well I Can't say I blame you. I used to do some business with them before the civil war, but since then they have increased their prices and although it is more expensive to hire my Centauri friend, at least I don't have to deal with those Psi-Cops. And now that Mars is going to be independent I don't have to follow the Alliance rules any more either."

Susan looked in the direction of the side exit and noticed the security men dragging the telepath through the door. "What are you going to do with him," she asked. Almost immediately she realised what the real answer would be, but for some reason felt almost comforted by that, although deeper inside she felt a little sick that she could wish someone, even a telepath, dead.

"We will take good care of him," Manavis answered. "You need not worry about that. Now if you will excuse me for just one minute I have to consult with my assistant." He hurried off towards the side exit calling out for the Centauri telepath to wait.

Manavis caught up with the Centauri telepath before he left the bar. "Make sure the staff is moved out of the room before I get there. The less witnesses there are the better, after all the last thing I want is a horde of Psi-Cops running around here looking for their friend here. I might need you later to see what everyone in the bar knows, for the usually price of course."

The Centauri nodded his head once in agreement and then followed the bouncers into the kitchen. Manavis waited for a few minutes and then followed his assistant inside, another two security men joining him. Inside the large kitchen, the telepath had been thrown on the floor, and was surrounded by a ring of security staff. One of the security men picked up and began admiring a large metal rod that had been sitting against the wall.

Manavis walked over to the ring of security men and looked down at his prisoner. Then a thought grabbed him and he tugged the Centauri telepath aside and whispered to him. "Are you blocking any messages he might be trying to send to his bosses?"

The Centauri nodded and said softly in heavily accented English, "he had been broadcasting almost constantly since Jack grabbed him, but I have blocked his thoughts. He is not strong enough to break through my block, us Centauri are much better at this sort of thing than Human telepaths."

Manavis looked pleased, "good, I didn't want this place flooded by Psi-Cops, that would be a little bit too much right now. But I still need to send a message to them that the casino's of New Vegas are off limits to Psi-Corp and anyone else who wants to interfere with our business."

Turning back to the injured telepath Manavis said, "Well, it looks like you have been a naughty boy doesn't it. I thought that we told your bosses before that we don't like telepaths running around New Vegas, and I certainly don't want them in my casino. Yet here you are, and threatening a hero of Mars no less."

"She is no hero," the telepath snarled at the gangster.

Manavis just smiled at the telepath's outburst. "Ah but you see that is where you are wrong. She served as Sheridan's second and it was Sheridan who freed Mars and allowed me to get my casino back. Then you have go and threaten her with a weapon, in my own place no less. Didn't you read the sign over the entrance that said no weapons or telepaths allowed. Why that is twice you have broken the rules in one day."

Sweat began to dribble down the telepath's forehead as he eyed the bouncer with the steel rod, who was now slapping it gently against his hand and smiling broadly at the telepath. There was nothing warm in that smile though, or in the manner of the other members of the casino's security team as they moved closer around the telepath. Searching for a way out of the situation, he resorted to the most popular method used by the Psi-Corp, threats. "If you do not let me go right now you will have more trouble than you can handle with the Corp."

Whatever reaction he had been seeking, he certainly didn't expect the peals of laughter that broke out around him. The only people in the room not laughing were the Centauri and Manavis both of whom just stood there staring calmly at their prisoner. Manavis waited quietly for the laughter to die down before responding to the telepath's threat. "I still don't think you understand the situation Mr Black, if that is your real name. You see Mars is no longer part of the Earth Alliance, so we don't follow your rules with regard to telepaths and the Psi-Corp. In fact, I think many people would want to see your kind dead after the way you treated the rebels during the war. So while that sort of threat may get you somewhere on Earth and the other Alliance worlds it doesn't carry much weight here on Mars, and even less so with in my casino. I am afraid you are going to have to be taught a lesson."

"You can't do this," the telepath cried out. "I am a member of Psi-Corp, I have rights. You can't do anything to me."

Manavis knelt down and patted the telepath on the cheek. "I will think you will find that I can do whatever I like. Without Earth Alliance troops to enforce the law around here, we are going to have to do a little enforcing of our own from now on. At least until the new Mars government gets up and running and sends in its own police force." He then stood and looked at one of the bouncers. "Gag him Jack, I don't want his screaming to upset my customers.

The security man in question nodded once and pulled out a roll of thick tape, quickly covering the telepath's mouth before he could utter another complaint. The other bouncer's grabbed his arms and dragged him bodily towards a back door, the telepath struggling furiously.

Turning away Manavis looked at the Centauri telepath. "Make sure he is found somewhere near the Psi-Corps base, and try not to make as much of a mess this time. Last time I had to pay the cleaning staff a fortune to keep them quiet, and I don't want that happening again"

His assistant nodded once and followed the others out of the back door. Manavis watched them leave and then, after brushing a few specks of imaginary dust off his golden suit and making sure all his hair was still in place, left the kitchen and headed back to the main casino. Just as he stepped out through the door back into the restaurant, he noticed something shining on the floor. Bending down he picked it up. His face broke out with an amused smile when he noticed it was a Psi-Corp badge, which must have slipped from the telepath's pocket as they escorted him away. Rubbing with his fingers, he admired his reflection in the polished metal before slipping it into his own pocket.

Seeing Susan still standing next to her table he made his way back across the empty room to her side. "Captain Ivanova," he said in an apologetic tone. "I am so sorry that a nasty experience had to happen during your visit. Usually I run a nice clean casino, but I have been having some trouble with Psi-Corp for some time. As he tried to kill one of my guests with a pistol you can see why I don't like his kind around here."

"He will be ok." Susan hesitated, not really wanting to sound too interested in the telepath. "I mean I hope he won't get into any trouble over this incident."

Manavis smiled at her concerns, "You need not worry about him Captain. I will ensure that Psi-Corps are informed of the situation and it will be taken care of soon enough. In fact, my assistant is just bashing out a message for them on the old keyboard now. Now can I offer you a meal at our fine restaurant, on the house of course."

"I think I have had enough excitement for one day Mr Manavis, I might just head back to my ship."

"I understand how you must be feeling Captain, so let me offer you the service of my own personal shuttle to take you and your companions back to your vessel." Manavis gestured in the direction of one of the waiters who hurried towards his side.

Susan was quick to refuse the offer though, not really wanting to turn up at the Rasputin a luxury shuttle, which might raise a few too many questions. "There is no need, I have my own shuttle waiting for me, and I need to fly it back. After all my ship is leaving soon and it can't leave without all of its shuttles."

"Of course Captain," Manavis said, dismissing the waiter. "Then let me instead offer an invitation for you to visit my casino anytime you like, all meals on the house. I can not have the reputation sullied by this one incident."

"That is most kind," Susan said, smiling despite her misgivings. She didn't like the smooth gangster any more than the telepath, and right now only wanted to leave and get away from the casino, the planet and in fact the whole system.

"Anyway," Manavis continued, "I have other business to attend to right now, and so I must abandon you I am afraid. If you should need anything for the rest of your stay then please let me, or one of my staff know and I will do my best to assist you." He shook hands with her this time and then after a final offer of assistance left Susan and her party, taking the same side exit that Susan had seen the security men dragging the telepath through before.

As they headed towards the exit Susan turned to Major Logan and asked, "what do you think they will do to him?"

Lily shrugged, "if he is lucky they will just mindwipe him or something like that, but probably they will just kill him."

Susan looked appalled, at both the telepath's possible fate and the cold way Lily had answered her question. Inside she had already known what the answer would be, but despite her hatred for Psi-Corp, she had never contributed to the death of a telepath before. Sure, she had tossed one telepath who had tried to pick her up in a bar on Io station out a third story window, but he had been ok… eventually. "Can't we do something?" she asked hesitantly.

The Major stopped just outside the casino doors and looked at her with concern. "Look Captain, I know how you feel, you wouldn't be human if you didn't feel something. However, those men in there are most likely Martian Mafia and that telepath was dead the moment he walked in the door, there was nothing we could have done about it. Just because he attacked you doesn't mean that you are responsible for his death, assuming of course they kill him."

"It doesn't make me feel any better though."

"No it does," Lily agreed. "There is nothing we can do though, and filing a report would only lead to the Mafia coming after us, not to mention Psi-Corp. Let the two of them fight it out between them and we can just stay well out of the way."

"That is probably for the best," Susan said finally. Inside she felt nothing but relief, realising that what ever the telepath had found out about her it would die with him. It sicked her to feel this way, but she could not help but feel the way she did, knowing that for now she was still safe from the Psi-Corp."

"Of course all this leaves a lot more questions than answers," the Major continued. "I mean that telepath in there must have been tied up with the men who attacked the lawyer on the station. That could mean that Psi-Corp was behind the whole thing."

Susan waited until a small crowd of tourists had passed before answering. "Maybe, that would certainly explain how the attackers escaped from Mars High. However, I know of telepath's working outside the Corp before, and there are several internal divisions within Psi-Corp that aren't exposed to the public. You are right about one thing though this is getting very confusing. He nearly had me fooled there for a moment. He seemed more interested in finding out what I knew than anything else, at least to start with."

Lily nodded, "that would suggest that he was working for the same people who sent those gunmen to kill the Futurecorp lawyer doesn't it."

"I guess so," Susan said. She looked around to make sure that no one else was listening into the conversion. Apart from the two marines, who were keeping their distance from Susan and Lily, one guarding the front and the other the rear, there was no other soul in sight. Even the marines were too far away to hear what they were saying, which suited Susan fine. "Then he kept asking about something called Project A3. That was when he tried scanning me."

Lily looked confused about something for a second but there was no hesitation in her question. "A3! What was the name of that planet you were mentioning last night?"

"Arisia 3," Susan supplied.

"That was it," Lily said a joyful look of discovery lighting up her face. "I think I have the answer then. The telepath and the gunmen were part of one organization, maybe something being run by Psi-Corp, maybe not. Somehow, Futurecorp found out about whatever they were up to and wanted in on the action. That is why that lawyer came to see you, so she could buy mining rights to the planet. Whatever is going on must have something to do with that planet, probably some sort of scam or corporate war. Those business types are very ruthless when it comes to money."

Susan didn't look convinced. "That could be true, but I don't see why they need Arisia 3 though. From what I could find out about it, there is not much there. It is just a small mining world near the Narn border. Most of the major corporations turned down the mining lease when it was first offered, mainly because of its distance from Earth, which reduces any profit they might make. Besides, the quantities of Quantium 40 present are hardly even worth the effort it would take to mine them and any profit they made would be negligible."

"I still think the answer is there Captain," Lily said. "If you like I can look into it further, I like playing detective, and it will give me something to do on board the ship. Life for a marine is not that interesting you know. Most of the time we just sit around and play games in the rec hall, or train in the gym."

"Well if you don't mind I would love you to help out. The whole thing has me beat, not to mention worried. The sooner it is all sorted out the better."

"Then it is a deal Captain," Lily said with a smile. "I will begin as soon as we get back on board."

* * *


	14. Chapter 14

* * *

The Rasputin's shuttle bay was almost empty by the time Susan and the Marines returned. The trip back had been a contemplative affair as Susan thought back to what had happened in the restaurant, trying to think of a way to avoid what had happened. Try as she might there was no way she could avoid the fact that the Major was right. The way the security men had showed up so quickly meant that they must have detected that her contact was a telepath, and no casino liked telepaths working over their games, no matter if they were part of Psi-Corp or not. Even on Babylon 5, there had been rule that no telepaths were permitted in the casino there.

She still felt a little fearful that the telepath would somehow escape, but for some reason she no longer felt even the slightest remorse for what had happened. It was not a comforting realisation, but one that she would have to live with now. There was no way the past could be changed now, although she knew that if she had to do the whole thing over she would not have left the Rasputin today. The telepath may still have been killed by Manavis and his men, but at least it would not have been on her conscience.

As soon as everyone had disembarked from the shuttle, she took the Major aside and asked her not to relay anything that had happened on the surface to anyone else. Fortunately she had agreed and promised to tell her two men to do the same so at least Susan did not have to worry about anyone linking her to the death of the telepath. She felt a little paranoid, especially with a Psi-Corp representative coming on board soon. Still she had lived on Babylon 5 with a telepath, but the station was a lot bigger than the Rasputin was and Talia Winters had been more than just another telepath.

Sighing at the hand the fates had dealt her this time Susan made her way onto the bridge, ignoring the ensign who leapt up to announce her arrival and plonked herself down in her chair, which had just been hurriedly vacated by a worried looking Commander Petrov.

"Well Captain?" he asked after waiting patiently for several minutes for her to tell him what had happened. "What happened?"

Susan looked up, her face showing the tiredness she felt. "No-one turned up Commander. Whoever he was, he must have seen the Marines."

"Sorry about that Captain, but I couldn't let you go without some sort of protection."

"That's ok Commander. I think he might not have turned up anyway. It was probably just a wild goose chase."

Petrov nodded. "Well I am sorry anyway Captain." He looked at her closely. "You look tired Captain. I can handle everything her if you would prefer to get some sleep now. I just got word from Mars High that some of the troops for the transports are delayed so they have to put back departure by at least half a day. You might as well head off to bed and you can tell me the rest of what happened tomorrow morning."

Susan smiled for the first time since she left this afternoon. "Still looking after my welfare Commander," she asked in a teasing tone.

"Always Captain," Petrov replied in a more serious voice. "It is my job after all."

"Well I think I will take you advice then, but this doesn't mean that I am going to every night. I have just had a very long afternoon."

Petrov nodded. "Good night then Captain," he said. Then as she was about to leave he said, "oh and Captain. Sweet dreams."

Susan paused for a moment at the door looking back at her executive officer. "I can only hope," she said, knowing inside that it was unlikely that she would sleep well tonight at all. After all two nights in a row would too much to hope for.

* * *

**6:25, February 3, 2262, Mars.**

Dawn over Mars was a beautiful thing. As the sun rose and slowly slipped across the broken landscape it lit up the red sands of the planet, giving them a glow they normally didn't possess. A soft, peaceful image calmed the mind and soul, and over the years had lured many visitors to the planet. However, in a few places the peaceful landscape was broken by the low, silvery shapes of the various domed cities and factories. They did not add to the beauty of the dawn though, instead they stood out as something unnatural and mechanical against a landscape shaped and dominated by nature. Likewise, the shuttle currently coming in to land at one of the domes also stood out starkly against the Martian landscape.

One of these domes was Xanthe Terra, home to the rich and those lucky enough to be friends of the rich. The occupants of the shuttle that had just set down on the dome's landing platform cared little for the beauty of the dawn though, or the promise of renewal and life it bought. They cared only about their own concerns, plots, and plans. In the whole scheme of things their concerns where minor, but to Darren Anderson and his female companion they were everything.

Passing the major apartment buildings, they made their way to small structure set slightly aside from the rest of the buildings. It was roughly square, built around a large open tree-filled courtyard. Anderson and his companion passed through the main doors of the apartment, right past the sleeping security officer without him even stirring and entered the courtyard.

Anderson stopped for a moment beside the central fountain and pointed to the stone bench in the shade of a large tree. He sent his thoughts into the woman who had accompanied him. _'Wait here. I must meet with someone important, but it should not take too long. As soon as I returned we will be ready to begin our journey.'_

Instead of replying the woman sat on the bench, crossing her hands over her lap, and seeming to relax into meditation. Satisfied Anderson took no further notice of her as went on to the wooden door leading into on of the apartments, knocking once. The door opened immediately and he entered, leaving the woman alone with her thoughts.

Inside the apartment, Anderson moved through the rooms until he found his superior sitting in a chair in his office, looking forlornly at an empty fish tank sitting in front of him. Anderson remembered that tank as one that had contained a fish the last time he had visited, but it wasn't like Harvey Kiel, one of the calmest and most powerful telepaths he knew, to get upset over a simple dead fish. Quickly he entered the office, not wanting to upset his superior even further by being later than he already was.

As soon as he reached the Psi-Cop's side he was assaulted by a wave of angry thoughts, breaking through the walls he had so carefully set up with very little effort. _'You are late,'_ came the thoughts of the Psi-Cop, a cold anger plainly evident, but underlying that something else that worried Anderson more, the brief hint of fear. There was something that was troubling Kiel greatly indeed.

 _'Sorry sir,'_ was Anderson's reply. _'There has been a problem and I was delayed.'_

Instead of replying, Kiel stood and led his assistant out into the garden, picking up his watering can as he did. Anderson knew this was a good sign, as gardening always reduced any anger Kiel might be feeling, anger that he didn't really want to be directed his way right now. He waited for several minutes before the Psi-Cop was ready to continue, standing quietly near the entrance to the garden. When Kiel's thoughts came this time, they were calm and no longer carried the anger they had before. _'What sort of problem, I hope the meeting between Ivanova and our agent went ahead as planned.'_

Anderson shook his head. _'I am afraid not sir, the agent we sent has not returned and he cannot be found anywhere. The owner of the casino, a Mr Manavis, said that he remembered someone who resembled our agent entering, and his security records have confirmed that. We have done a quick search of the place, but have been unable to find any trace so far. I didn't want to authorise a full search just yet, as we may not get cooperation from the new Mars authorities for that.'_

 _'I want that full search and do it no matter what the Mars government says. No matter if he is alive or dead I want him located, preferably alive so he can tell us what happened, but even the dead can tell some tales.'_ Kiel stopped, knelt down and pulled out a weed growing out of his garden. _'Was there any word on Ivanova. Did she arrive at the casino or not?'_

Anderson consulted his data pad again, scanning the statement given by the casino owner. _'She did turn up sometime after our agent. She was with three others, Mr Manavis believed that they were EAS Marines, at least that is what he thought from the way they moved, always looking around for danger.'_

Kiel stood up and tapped his finger against his chin. _'So she did not follow the warning in the message. That was to be expected and I think it would have been more suspicious if she had turned up alone. What happened after that, did she meet with our man or not?'_

 _'Not according to Mr Manavis' statement,'_ Anderson replied, carefully checking the statement again. _'He said that she arrived, left her companions in the main bar area before taking a seat in the restaurant, just as in the plan. She waited for nearly two hours before leaving, and no one approached her in that time. Mr Manavis even provided a list of what foods she ordered in that time, although I hardly think that is important.'_

Looking contemplative, Kiel wandered across his garden toward the stone seat, his assistant falling into step just behind him. _'What do we know about this Mr Manavis, is his statement trustworthy?'_

Anderson consulted his data pad before responding. _'His statement was corroborated by several others in the casino, including the two doormen, a waiter, and a Centauri tourist. None of the other guests or staff members in the casino saw anything though. As I mentioned in the planning the restaurant is not widely used during the day, which made it perfect for our purposes. However something still seems to have gone wrong.'_

"Hmmm," Kiel murmured aloud. _'Does Manavis have a record with us.'_

 _'I will have to check with HQ for that,'_ Anderson replied as he linked his data pad to the Psi-Corp base on Mars and waited for the information to be retrieved.

Kiel nodded and moved away, continuing his work on the garden, plucking weeds and watering any plants that looked like it needed moisture while he waited. He knew it would take a while, as the vast Psi-Corp archives held information on almost every person on the planet, including reports about their loyalties, criminal activities, and anything else the Corp thought it important enough to record. No one outside Psi-Corp, and in fact very few inside, knew exactly how much data Psi-Corp had collected over the years, and many would be very alarmed to learn of the true extent of the archives.

Finally, the report came back, taking some time despite the almost instantaneous communication network available in the 23rd century. After reading it carefully, Anderson passed on the important facts to his superior, carefully to only cover anything important to what they were discussing, and leave out the rest. _'He has a large file, very large indeed. It is a little contradictory though. It reports that has no known links to any anti-telepath organizations, but possible links to the Mars Mafia as well as the Mars resistance, both of which oppose Psi-Corp. Those are the only black marks on his record though and the rest of the records show him to be an honest operator. He has also been most generous to commercial telepaths he had hired, and our records show he has hired a commercial telepath on nearly two hundred separate occasions over the past five years, which is a little higher than most casino's but not unexpected. I don't see anything in here that would indicate he would have cause to lie about in this matter.'_

 _'It is good to know for sure though,'_ Kiel responded. _'Very well leave this matter for the moment until we get the report from the search team. I will have to put someone else on that case though as you will be leaving shortly.'_

Anderson nodded. _'Yes sir, the Rasputin should be leaving Mars later today bound for Proxima III. The last report I had said they were still waiting on the last of the crew who should arrive this morning, assuming the shuttle from Earth is not delayed again.'_

_'Good they should still be in the Proxima system in time for the test then. The Rasputin is going to have some of the Earth Alliance's best pilots on board and if the software can beat some of them in one on one combat then I think it will have proven itself. Make sure you keep in touch with the pilot of the carrier so if there is any delay in the Rasputin's flight plan you can ask him to delay the test. I would like to make sure the Rasputin's pilots are there, after all if this is going to work we want to test it against the best Earthforce has to offer.'_

_'Yes,'_ Anderson agreed. _'And hopefully it may even kill a few, which would make our job a lot easier later when we return to Proxima with the weapon.'_

Kiel nodded in agreement before putting down his watering can and turning back towards the door into his apartment. Anderson followed him and they both moved from the outside garden into the apartment's lounge. Taking a seat near the door, Kiel turned back to his assistant, sending his thoughts once more. _'Are you ready for your assignment?'_

 _'Completely,'_ came his assistant's confident response. _'Everything is in readiness and I have a shuttle loaded with the necessary equipment standing by at the base. As soon as the Rasputin is ready to leave I will be ready to join it.'_

 _'And your assistant?'_ Kiel's thoughts carried a taint of humour this time. _'Is she ready for her task.'_

Anderson smiled. _'I think we can rely on her to do her job. After all she is one hundred percent loyal to Psi-Corp now, and won't betray us no matter what we tell her to do.'_

 _'I wouldn't tell her too much about our plans though,'_ Kiel warned. _'She is only a P5, and that fool Bester has one of his agents snooping around trying to work out what we are up to. I don't want him scanning her and learning about the project before I am ready to move against him.'_

_'You do not need to worry about that sir, I won't be telling her anything more than what she needs to know. As for Bester, I don't think he would show his face on board the Rasputin. His relationship with Captain Ivanova is not good. I don't think she has ever forgiven him or Psi-Corp over the control program. I guess that what makes this plan so perfect.'_

_'As long as she doesn't decide to throw you into an airlock as soon as you get on board,'_ Kiel warned his assistant, although his mind still sent a strong sense of ironic humour with his other thoughts.

 _'I will be careful,'_ Anderson assured him. _'Anyway, I will only be on board for a little over a day. The test is set for the afternoon of the forth which is tomorrow afternoon and if the Rasputin leaves on time today then I should only be there for two nights, tonight and tomorrow night. I will watch the test and then once it is complete will say that I have an emergency back on Mars and leave with the shuttle, taking the equipment and it's readings back with me. Of course, instead of going to Mars, I will travel to A3 and pass on the results of the test to the builders. I assume I will meet you there?'_

Kiel shrugged. _'That depends on what our allies decide. They may need me to remain here for a few more days, but I will be there by the time the second test is ready. I wouldn't want to miss that one.'_

 _'Neither would I,'_ Anderson agreed. _'It should be quiet spectacular indeed. Has the target been picked yet?'_

Kiel shook his head. _'Not yet, we are waiting on the results of the first test before deciding on the first target for the weapon. It will likely be one of the outposts, possibly the hidden listening post on the Narn border. If we take that out then Earth will probably send at least some of it's fleet to investigate fearing that Narn may be moving against them. That will allow us to move closer towards the inner worlds and hopefully bypass the main fleet.'_

_'That is what I was thinking as well Sir. And how about the builders, are they suppling anything for our cause?'_

Kiel shrugged. _'I do not know. They have only sent troops and technicians so far. I will speak to our allies soon though, they may have more information.'_

 _'You will let me know of any changes of course?"_ Anderson queried.

_'Of course.'_

_'Then I will leave you to it,'_ Anderson said, standing and moving towards the door. _'I still have to brief my new assistant fully on what her role will be. Then I have to pack for my trip, although fortunately most of the equipment is already on board my shuttle.'_

Kiel stood and shook hands with his assistant. _'Good luck then Darren. I will expect to see you in a few days at A3. And please try to make sure nothing else goes wrong, we have already lost two agents in the past two days and if this goes on we won't have enough personnel left to carry the plan. So try to keep yourself alive.'_

Disengaging his hand from Kiel's Anderson walked towards the apartment door. _'I think you can be sure of one thing, and that is that I will be doing by very best to ensure that nothing happens to me Sir.'_

 _'Good luck then Darren,'_ Kiel thought with a slight smile. _'I will see you again at the end of the week.'_

With that, he dismissed his assistant and let Anderson find his own way out of the apartment. Outside the other occupants of the apartment buildings were just waking from their slumber. Most of the other tenants were shareholders in one of the major Mars-based corporations, although Anderson couldn't remember which one exactly owned this building, and just at the moment, he wasn't concerned. Instead, he was more interested in avoiding detection.

Kiel hadn't left the apartment since he had arrived here from Earth and the sight of a uniformed member of Psi-Corp entering would be sure to arouse some suspicion. As he walked back towards the courtyard, he let the walls in his mind drop and the thoughts of those around him into his mind. Fortunately he didn't detect any thoughts about him, so knowing that he had passed unnoticed by the few tenants who were actually out of bed, he strode out into the brightly lit courtyard secure in the knowledge that Kiel's location was safe for now.

Seeing Anderson coming towards her, his new assistant stood and brushed off her green suit before standing quietly with her hands clasped behind her back awaking his arrival.

 _'Come,'_ his mental voice echoed in her head. _'I have important work for you to do.'_

_'Do I get to know what this work is now?'_

Anderson smiled, not a pleasant smile, but one tinged with a hunger that he was having trouble hiding. _'Lets just say you will enjoy it. I want you to distract someone, so I can catch her off guard.'_

 _'Sounds like I will enjoy this."_ The woman's thoughts were tinged with wry humour.

* * *

After making certain Anderson had left, Kiel crossed to a strange console mounted on the wall of his office. The device looked more organic than mechanical and it radiated a psychic energy that was unmistakably alien, although only a telepath would have sensed the device's true nature. There also seemed a hidden power to the device; a strange throbbing that was almost undetectable. Kiel kept it hidden here at the back of his office to avoid anyone else coming across it, but also so that it was close by should they call.

Running his hands across the device's surface Kiel found the tiny protrusion that looked almost like a button. Touching it raised a faint hum from the alien device as it reached out across the galaxy to connect Kiel with his alien allies. The telepath stepped back as soon as he had activated it to allow room for the holographic projector built into the device to display its image.

He did not have long to wait and soon the holographic shape of his ally stood before him, the communications device on the wall projecting his image, just as back in the alien's ship a similar device was projecting Kiel's form. It was a large creature, about Kiel's height but it appeared much wider. It was also covered in a long dark cloak, hiding almost all of its features from the telepath. All he could see were two gloved hands that seemed to shimmer through the air as they moved.

Kiel bowed low in the direction of the hologram. "All is prepared," he said, careful not to portray any emotion that would give away his thoughts. In truth, he hated working with aliens to achieve his aims and planned to dispose of them as soon as he could. For now though, they were a useful allies and without them nothing he had planned would never come to fruition.

A whisper responded, one that seemed to come from all around him at once. "Good," was all it said.

"Shall I proceed with the first test?"

The alien hesitated and turned away for a second as if consulting someone else on its ship. "There are no more problems? We have learning of the interest of Ivanova."

"She is of no concern, she knows nothing of our plans." Inwardly Kiel cursed, wondering how his allies had heard of the incident on Mars High so soon. 'They must have spies everywhere,' he though to himself, making a mental note to be more careful in the future about who he spoke to, and to warn everyone who worked for him to do the same.

The whispering voice of the alien increased in volume slightly. "We know of her. Do not underestimate her for she is dangerous. If she interferes again then you will kill her."

"Of course," Kiel responded with another bow.

The alien seemed to nod, although it was difficult to exactly determine its body movements beneath the thick robe it was wearing. Then it's head, or at least what Kiel assumed was it's head, leaned towards him and the dark whisper came again. "Proceed with the test. We will be watching, so make sure it is successful."

"Do not worry, I have sent my best operative to take care of it personally."

Again, the figure seemed to nod. "Good," it said in a soft tone. Then before Kiel could continue the conversation the light on the alien device winked out and the telepath found he was alone once more. He found himself a little annoyed at the way he had been dismissed, almost as if he did not matter to the aliens. "Well," he said aloud. 'Once I control the alliance they will have to start treating me a little more respect, and both them and the other alien races will learn to fear my name."

* * *

The lift drifted to a stop on deck 6, the Rasputin's main deck. As the door slid open, Susan moved to one side expecting a large number of crew to board. To her surprise, there was only one, the Rasputin's chief medical officer, Amada Taylor. The blonde doctor smiled and nodded to Susan as they waited for the lift to resume its journey.

"How are you today Captain," Dr. Taylor asked as the lift continued it's journey down towards the shuttle bay.

"Couldn't be better Doctor," Susan replied, and for once she wasn't lying. "I think this ship must agree with me, I haven't felt so good in years."

"Well I am pleased to hear that Captain," Amanda said. "From all reports you have had a busy couple of days."

"Very busy indeed Doctor," Susan said as the doors to left opened and they both walked out into the crowded shuttle bay.

Both woman left the lift at once, and as they did Susan's hand brushed against Dr. Taylor's bare arm. Susan experienced a brief flash in her mind and then a feeling of displeasure washed over her. She moved away from Amanda but not before she realised that somehow she knew that the doctor didn't like her one bit, despite all her pleasantries and concerns. Susan didn't know how she knew that, but somehow she did.

Before she could think on the matter any further, though she was snared by Commander Petrov and guided through the gathered crewmembers towards the other end of the shuttle bay. "Good afternoon Captain," the Commander said as he walked. "Admiral Bettaman's shuttle should be arriving from the station in a few minutes. I have assembled the crew as you have asked and everything is ready."

"Thank you Commander," Susan replied, quickly forgetting about the brief incident with Amanda Taylor and concentrating on the job she had to do. "Are all the crew assembled?"

"All that could be spared Captain," Petrov said. "Of course some of the bridge crew and most of the current engineering shift had to remain at their stations, but we can broadcast throughout the ship if you like."

"Yes that's a good idea. Set it up will you and meet me near shuttle four." Susan pointed in the direction of the large, bulky shape of one of the Rasputin's shuttles.

"Yes Sir," the Commander said with a sharp salute before walking off towards the shuttle bay's control section to organise everything. Susan continued toward the large shuttle, accepting the greetings of her crew as she walked. Almost the entire ship's crew had been assembled in the shuttle bay to hear what the Admiral had to say. Susan had been rather surprised when the Admiral had requested a visit early this morning, especially this close to the Rasputin's departure time. She wasn't that happy about the surprise visit, but as with most official visits she could do little to prevent it.

Around her, the Rasputin's crew appeared excited by the upcoming official visit. Susan had spent most of the morning locked in discussion with her command staff, discussing the state of the Rasputin's preparation and readiness for service, and despite some misgivings over the still unproven technology, it had been concluded that they were ready as they were ever going to be.

In fact, all they were waiting on now was the conclusion of this last minute official visit, or inspection as Susan was beginning to think of the Admiral's visit. The last of the crew had arrived early this morning and had been settled in nicely, with nearly a hundred berths still left over. The Warlock class vessels had originally been designed as a fleet command vessel and extra space was built for command staff, stewards and the like. While the Rasputin might one day take up that role, it was currently filling in to make up for the large numbers of vessels lost or badly damaged during the civil war.

Commander Petrov finally returned from his short side trip and made his way through the crowd to Susan's side. Both Susan and the rest of her command staff were outfitted in their full dress uniforms. It was not every day an admiral came to visit and in Earthforce there were few officers that ranked higher than a full admiral.

Susan, who was not very comfortable in the tight fitting uniform, was glad the Admiral's shuttle only took ten minutes to make the short trip from Mars High to the Rasputin. She hadn't really been looking forward to standing around all day in her dress uniform. Stepping forward, she was the first to greet the tall, grey-haired admiral as he walked slowly down the stairs from his shuttle.

"Captain Ivanova," Admiral Salik Bettaman said after the two had exchanged salutes. "It is good to meet you, and to see this fine vessel at last."

"Welcome aboard Admiral," Susan said. "We are likewise pleased to have you aboard, although I must admit your arrival was somewhat of a surprise."

"I apologise for that Captain, last minute changes in schedules and that sort of thing."

"I understand Admiral," Susan said with a slight smile. "I had to deal with the same thing while I was waiting for my ship to be finished."

"Yes it did take a little longer than expect," the Admiral admitted. "Now shall we get the formalities over with so I can get on with this tour? I am looking forward to having good look over a Warlock destroyer at last, especially considering how much money we have been pumping into the project over the past couple of years."

"This way Admiral," Susan said as she guided the Admiral towards the podium that had been set up next to one of the Rasputin's shuttles.

After he was firmly ensconced on the podium, Admiral Bettaman looked out over the sea of faces before clearing his throat and beginning what he claimed would only be a short speech. Susan stood behind him and tried to look interested as the Admiral's short speech spread over nearly an hour and covered everything from how he remembered what it was like in Earthforce during his youth to how he wanted everyone to put the past behind them and work together for a new future.

Fortunately, he eventually finished and the crew filed out of the shuttle bay, filling the lifts on their way back to their stations, quarters and recreation rooms. The bay now nearly empty, the Admiral guided Susan and Petrov away from the crowd so he could pass on the orders that were the real reason for his visit.

"Captain," he said, once they were out of earshot of the rest of the crew. "As you know you were to take command of this vessel for a test period so the technicians can complete final modifications for the new production models. However, your orders have now changed. Because of recent raids against some of the outer Earth colonies, we have decided to step up the schedule a little. Earth central has decided to put the Rasputin on full active duty, meaning that you are expected to maintain combat readiness at all times, just like the rest of the fleet."

"But Admiral," Susan objected. "This vessel isn't ready. I mean just a few days ago, the artificial gravity system failed and personally, I still think there are some problems with it. There could be a thousand bugs in the other systems and if something goes wrong during a battle we could be left sitting ducks."

The Admiral held up his hand to stop any further arguments. "I understand your concerns Captain, but your vessel should be safe enough around Proxima III for now. I understand General McCarron told you your orders were to escort the troops transports to the Proxima system and then continue the testing there in the company of three other destroyers."

When Susan and Petrov nodded, he continued. "Your new orders are almost identical, except for one small change. The three other destroyers, lead by Captain James on the Apollo, will only be at Proxima for a week. Raiders have hit a couple of the undefended outer worlds so we are sending those destroyers on patrol along the border colonies which should help quieten things down there a while."

"Which means the Rasputin will be left to guard the Proxima system on it's own," Susan interrupted.

"Not entirely on it's own," Bettaman disagreed. "You will have the twelve Starfuries currently on the planet, as well as your own fighters and we will be sending another twenty fighters to boost Proxima's defence. They should arrive in a couple of weeks. Also one of the Interstellar Alliance's patrols has been given our permission to pass through the Proxima system on a regular basis, which should help discourage any raiders."

Susan nodded, still unhappy about the whole situation, but realising that it was unlikely that Earthforce was going to change it's mind. "I shall endeavour to do the best I can with what I have then Admiral," Susan said.

The Admiral smiled pleasantly. "Good Captain, I knew we could count on you. Now that is taken care of how about a tour of this fine vessel."

Susan turned to Petrov, "Commander Petrov here will be happy to assist you with that Admiral, I have a lot to do before this vessel is ready to ship out this afternoon."

"Of course Captain," the Admiral said, nodding sagely.

"What would you like to see first Admiral," Petrov asked, while at the same time shooting a glare off in Susan direction to show her he wasn't happy with being left to play tour guide. She smiled sweetly back, the picture of innocence and waved as the Admiral and her executive officer headed off towards the aft shuttle bay.

'It is good to be the Captain,' Susan thought as she walked toward the lift back to the upper decks. She was a little concerned at the Rasputin being drafted in to protecting an entire system. Four ships would not have worried her, as most raiders would not care to take on four EAS destroyers, but a single experimental ship may not be enough to stop the more ambitious raiders from looking towards the large, and rich Proxima colony. Still what ever happened it was bound to be an interesting, even if it was for all the wrong reasons. She just wasn't entirely certain that interesting was what she was looking for right now.

* * *

A tired looking Petrov finally made it onto the bridge late that afternoon. Admiral Bettaman had insisted on seeing every part of the ship. Finally he had been forced to rope in Dr. Kozlowski to explain the more experimental parts of the ship and that had just led to everyone being confused, well except for the good Doctor who seemed to know exactly what he was talking about, despite the fact that no-one else did. Anyway, it had encouraged the Admiral to shorten his trip and after seeing him and his shuttle on their way, he had trudged back up to the command deck, Kozlowski still in tow.

"I trust you enjoyed yourself Commander," Susan asked as soon as she noticed Petrov's arrival. "Did the Admiral see everything he wanted to?"

"I think he saw every single part of the whole ship Captain," Petrov replied, leaning back against the railing near her seat with a sigh. "Fortunately I managed to get rid of him with my secret weapon."

When Susan looked quizzically at him, Petrov pointed in the direction of Dr. Kozlowski who was now busy chatting with the Chief Engineer Phillip Moore, who was also on the bridge, having arrived just a few moments before Petrov. Smiling in understand Susan say, "Ah I see. Well as long as he enjoyed himself."

"I think he did Captain," Petrov replied. "At least he said that we had a fine ship and if he was a few years younger he would snatch it for himself."

Susan smiled, "well I m glad he isn't a few years younger then. I have been looking forward to this command, which reminds me. We just got word from General McCarron on Mars High. He says that we are cleared to depart as soon as we are ready."

"At last," Petrov said under his breath. "Good Captain, shall I inform the crew to prepare for departure?"

"Already done, Commander, we are just waiting for word from Captain James on the Apollo and we can be on our way."

"Captain," the communication's officer called out. "I have Captain James on the link. He is asking to speak with you."

"Speak of the devil," Susan said softly. "Alright Lieutenant put him through to the main viewscreen."

"Yes Captain."

Above the holographic view of the space around the Rasputin shimmered in one place and was replaced by the view of the Apollo's Captain. "Captain Ivanova," he said as soon as the link was established. "All the other vessels are now ready to depart. Can you open a jump point for the two transports?"

"I think we can just about manage that Captain," Susan replied with a glance towards Kozlowski and Moore, who seemed oblivious to her scrutiny.

"Good," James said. "Whenever you are ready then Captain. We will form up in Hyperspace, so the transports have good protection. I don't expect any trouble, but you never know."

"No you don't, Captain," Susan agreed. "Ivanova out."

The older captain's image faded and the computer controlling the viewscreen replaced it with the image of space outside the Rasputin once more. Looking around Susan could see the two huge troop transports that the Apollo's captain had mentioned. Unlike the graceful Condor assault transports that were the mainstay of Earthforce's ground assault forces these vessels were large and ungainly, really nothing more than huge liners, designed to quickly transport thousands of soldiers between worlds with ease, if not much in the way of comfort.

When she had first joined Earthforce, there had been nothing like these transports in the fleet and all her trips between worlds had been made in either shuttles or warships, both of which did not have artificial gravity of any kind to begin with. These transports at least had their huge, cylindrical, rotating section, but the thought of being crammed into that vessel with five thousand other solders was not one Susan would ever look forward to.

Susan glanced at the Rasputin's current helmsman who was also looking at the view, distracted as he watch the large shape of an Omega destroyer peel off from its orbit above Mars and begin to accelerate as it prepared to enter Hyperspace. "Ensign Marino," she said, just loud enough to catch the young crewman's attention.

"Yes Captain," he said, quickly snapping back to readiness, not wanting to let his captain think he was not on the job.

"Take us away from Mars and prepare to open a jump point."

"Aye Captain," Marino replied, his hands flying across his keyboard as he prepared to get the huge warship under way. It had been sitting idle for over two days, drifting in a high orbit above the red planet, but that did not stop its engines leaping into life as soon as they were called on.

A faint vibration ran through the railing around the raised command section where Susan and Petrov watched as the engines powered up. Ever so slowly, the surface of Mars began to retreat away below then as the warship turned toward the distant shape of the Apollo, which was already powering away from the planet. The two huge troops transports fell into formation alongside the Rasputin as they waited to make the jump into Hyperspace.

"Opening a jump point now Captain," came the call from the helmsman as his finger stabbed the controls for the Rasputin's jump engines. In the distance, there was flare of light and then a spiralling tunnel of light as a jump point formed directly in front of them.

"Hold our position here Ensign," Susan ordered. "Wait until the two transports have entered and then follow them through."

"Yes Captain," he replied and they both watched as the cylindrical shapes of the troops transports flew past and through the jump point into hyperspace.

"Oh good it works," came a voice from somewhere nearby.

Susan turned and looked incredulously at Dr. Kozlowski. "What do you mean it works? Didn't you test the jump engines before we left." As she spoke, the Rasputin leapt through the jump point after the transports and entered the chaos of Hyperspace.

"Err no Captain," was Kozlowski sheepish reply. "I mean we did, but only on the prototype Warlock. We never had time to test it on the Rasputin. "

"And they want us to be ready for combat by the time we reach Proxima," Susan said to Petrov, her executive officer shaking his head in sympathy.

"There really isn't anything to worry about Captain," Kozlowski continued. "I mean jump point technology has been around forever so there is isn't really much we can go wrong with. It is just a matter of getting the right sized engines for the right sized ship."

"Well it seems to work fine Doctor," Susan said. "So I can not fault your work."

She turned toward the navigation station. "Ensign, as soon as the fleet has formed up link us to the Proxima III beacon."

"Yes Captain," the navigation officer said. "I have already received our course from the Apollo."

"Good," Susan replied. She turned back to Petrov who was waiting patiently behind her. "Well Commander I might let you take over for a while."

Before She could vacate her seat though another voice, this time the Rasputin communications officer, cut in. "Captain I have a message from a shuttle that is dead astern. They are asking permission to come aboard."

"Are they now," Susan said as she turned around to look in the direction the lieutenant had indicated. Sure enough there it was, a small black atmospheric shuttle closing quickly on the warship. Even from this distance, she could see the silver Psi-Corp emblem emblazoned across the top of the shuttle.

"That must be Mr Anderson and his assistant," Petrov informed her. "I was wondering what had happened to him."

"I was hoping that he had forgotten all about his assignment," Susan replied calmly, although inside she felt a feeling of dread. When the Psi-Corp representative had not shown up either yesterday or today she had hoped that he wasn't coming and after what happened at the Casino on Mars she wasn't really looking forward to serving with a telepath.

"Shall I order the shuttle bay to get ready to accept him Captain?" Petrov asked. Then when she didn't reply he asked again, "Captain?"

"Very well Commander. Then as soon as he is on board show him to the bridge. There are a few ground rules I would like to explain to him before he becomes part of this crew."

Petrov nodded and after a quick saluted headed out the bridge doors towards the shuttle bay once more. Susan sat and watched until the small shuttle slid below the warship's vast bulk and out of her view. For a moment, she thought about switching the viewscreen's cameras so she could watch the shuttle landing, but decided against it at the last moment.

She had a strange feeling about Anderson shuttle, something that she had felt ever since the shuttle's presence had first been pointed out to her. It was nothing more than a slight tingle in her spine, but she knew something was up, although if good or bad she could not tell.

"Captain," a voice asked from next to her.

"What is it Mr. Moore?" Susan replied, not even looking up.

"Dr. Kozlowski and I would like to run some tests on the engines while we are in Hyperspace. We had trouble with the reactors last time and I don't want anything to happen this trip."

Susan nodded, "very well, but try not to cause too much of a disruption, and whatever you do, don't deactivate anything vital."

"It shouldn't be noticeable Captain," Phillip assured her.

"Good," Susan said, as the two men headed for the exit. As they left, she could just hear them arguing in harsh whispers.

"But Phillip," Kozlowski was saying. "I was planning to work on my other project, I am sure I am near a breakthrough this time."

"Will you shut up about that," Phillip snapped. "You are supposed to be helping me, not wasting time in your quarters all day long."

"But this is important," Kozlowski protested. "I know I am…"

The rest of their conversation was lost as the bridge doors closed behind them. Susan stared at the doors for a moment, wondering if she should try and discover what it was Kozlowski was up to, but decided that maybe she had better trust her chief engineer on this, she didn't really want to deal with Kozlowski right now, she had bigger problems. Minutes later, those problems got a lot bigger as the two telepaths joined her on the bridge.

"Good Afternoon Captain Ivanova," Anderson began as Susan turned around to face them.

Her eyes brushed across the telepath and fell onto his assistant. She froze as she recognised the familiar features, the blonde hair and the beautiful face. "Talia," she whispered.

"I see you know my assistant Talia Winters already Captain, "Anderson said, the faintest twinges of a smile beginning to show on his face. _'I think she still likes you,'_ he sent telepathically to his assistant, his thoughts laced heavily with humour.

Susan looked at Talia, and despite her hopes saw nothing of the woman she had loved back on Babylon 5. The woman who stood before her was still that same monster that had killed her Talia, the same monster who had betrayed her and everyone else on the station. "I did" Susan replied, her voice hard, although she could not disguise the pain she was feeling inside.

"Hello again Captain," Talia said, and for a moment, Susan felt warmth flood into her heart at the sound of her former lover's voice. Then she realised that there was no answering warmth. Everything about the woman was cold, from her sharp, green suit to her cold eyes that seemed to laugh at her from behind the mask of her face.

Not answering Talia's greeting Susan turned to Petrov, who had accompanied the two telepaths up from the shuttle bay. "Commander can you show Mr Anderson and his assistant to their quarters."

Petrov looked a little confused for a moment, wondering why she would ask him to bring the two telepaths here, only to send them away again. "Um yes of course Captain," he finally managed. "Would you please follow me, we have set aside two spare rooms on the officer's deck for you."

"Good," Anderson replied. "I am sure they will be most suitable." Then he turned and looked back at Susan. "Captain," he said inclining his head in her direction, before turning and following Petrov off the bridge. Without another word to Susan, just a short dismissive glance, Talia turned and left as well. Susan watched her leave, a cold feeling rising up inside her.

* * *


	15. Chapter 15

* * *

**5:48, February 4, 2262, Hyperspace.**

Early morning found the Rasputin and the other vessels in the small fleet still ploughing their way slowly through Hyperspace towards the Proxima system. Normally they would have been able to make the short journey to Earth's first interstellar colony considerably faster than they were now, but the presence of the two troops transports was slowing progress. Not wanting to leave the vulnerable vessels unprotected the small fleet was forced to reduce it's speed to that of it's slowest members.

On the Rasputin itself all was quiet, as most of the crew slumbered through the early morning. The bridge and engineering decks were busy, of course, as they had to be during flight, but the rest of the hundreds of corridors and dozens of workstations were empty of all but the occasional crewmember. In the pilot's recreation room, however, one troubled soul was spending the early morning watching the swirl of hyperspace pass by rather that sleep.

Located in the bow of the warship, the room looked out over the space in front of the ship. Like all the Rasputin's rooms it had no portholes, instead there were cameras mounted in the external hull and holographic displays on the walls that gave the appearance of large open windows without the reduction in the ship's hull strength such portals would require.

Normally, the room would be crowded with fighter pilots and ground crew, all busy playing one of the various holographic games that scattered throughout the room or watching the vid networks, maybe even catching up on messages from home. Instead, it was empty, as the Rasputin's commander had decided to only maintain the minimum crew necessary to runs the ships system on duty during the journey through Hyperspace. The hyperspace route between Earth and Proxima was among the safest in the alliance and besides there would be plenty of time once they arrived at Proxima for the crews to adjust to the Rasputin's duty roster. Until then, there was nothing wrong with them being allowed one more night of good sleep.

Instead, the only person who could be found in the rec room was the captain herself. She sat in one of the padded chairs that faced the front of the ship, just watching the slow passage of the multi-coloured clouds of gases that made up Hyperspace. In her hand, she held a half-empty glass of vodka, but did not raise it to her lips, instead just choosing to sit and think, the beautiful chaos of Hyperspace luring her mind into reminiscence.

She still couldn't believe that Talia had walked into her life again. Susan had given her up for dead, thinking never to see her again, especially after what Bester had said. Instead here she was, just as beautiful and alive as before. At least that is how she appeared on the outside. Inside Susan knew that the Talia she knew, the woman she had loved, was just as dead as ever. Nothing of the old Talia had been in the eyes of the woman who had walked into the bridge yesterday. There had been no warmth, no feeling, just cold, unfeeling hatred.

Still seeing her again had bought back all the old feelings, the memories and thoughts she had hidden deep inside her so they could never again make her cry the way she had after Talia had walked out of her life. Now those memories came flooding back, bringing a familiar ache to her heart. She knew without doubt that she still loved Talia, and there was nothing that could ever compare to the few precious moments they had shared together that one night nearly two and half years ago.

Susan had always been a guarded person, never exposing herself to anyone. Always in the back of her mind, there was a fear of commitment, a fear of being hurt. The few times she had ever truly loved, she had been left alone, lost and adrift. It had started with her mother, who when she killed herself left Susan so alone. Ever since then those she loved and cared about had all left her. Talia had been the worst though. With no one since her mother had she shared so much, told so many secrets and given herself so fully.

Then Talia had been snatched from her, taken away by Psi-Corp and their hideous Control program. The old Talia was gone and what was left was a construct, a creature that was nothing more that the pure embodiment of all that was Psi-Corp. But it still had the same face, the same voice as her Talia and ever time she looked at her Susan knew that she would feel the same feelings, the same longing that she had felt for Talia. And every time she could not help but hope that somewhere, deep inside there was some small part of her Talia left, a tiny part that could grow and blossom once more into the woman she had loved.

A single tear rolled down Susan's cheek and angrily she brushed it away. 'No,' she thought. 'I will not cry for her again.' However, inside she knew she could not help it. Just as she had mourned her mother for years she would continue to morn Talia, and it was made even worse by the fact that Talia was still here, or at least her body was. Susan could not bury the memory of her when she was still alive.

She looked a little different than she had on Babylon 5, thinner than ever before, and her hair slightly longer, but Susan would never be able to forget how Talia looked, not even if she lived forever. That night they spent together, just a short, single night of passion, they had shared everything. Their minds had been as one, and to Susan, unexperienced in the way of telepaths it had been the single most magical experience in all her life.

To look into someone's mind and see their love for you reflected in every part of their body and soul was something Susan could never forget. All her experiences and loves before then paled into insignificance compared to what she and Talia shared that night. They have given each other more than just their bodies, they had given their minds, so totally that Susan felt that Talia had been a part of her ever since.

Only the love her mother had felt for her came close to what Susan had felt from Talia, and just as what had happened with her mother had changed her for life, her experiences with Talia had left her changed. Susan now knew that no matter what happened she could never love anyone the way she had loved Talia. Nothing could compare to what she had felt, experienced, and done with Talia.

Sure there had been others who had been interested in her since that day, Marcus the most persistent, but none could attract her attention. With another she knew it would not be the same, there was no way they could share each others feelings and thoughts as she had with Talia when their minds had joined for those few brief hours.

Unable to help herself Susan's tears now flowed freely down her face as she remembered all the old pain and hurt that had kept her awake so many nights on Babylon 5. Here she had hoped to escape those memories for good, but now the worst thing that had ever happened to her had come back and was happening to her again. Every time she spoke to Talia, she was going to have to face what had happened. Every time she heard her voice, she was going to have to remember it wasn't Talia.

"Captain," a voice called out suddenly from the shadows.

Susan jumped at the sound of the voice, for she hadn't seen anyone entering the room. She quickly began to dab at her eyes with the sleeve of her uniform, trying to cover up her tears. She knew she must look a real mess, and hadn't really wanted to look this way, to be seen this vulnerable.

"Captain," the voice called again, and this time she recognised as her flight commander Alister Schmitt. "Are you alright?"

She tried to put on a smile, but failed miserably. "I am fine Lieutenant-Commander," she said, trying to keep formal and aloof.

She wasn't fooling anyone though, least of all the observant pilot. He took a seat neat to her and after scrutinising her face looked pointedly at the glass in her hands. "You should not be drinking so early in the morning Captain," he said softly.

Susan looked down at the forgotten glass in her hand. She had poured it when she had first arrived in the room, but still hadn't taken a sip, so lost in her feelings and memories that it had become irrelevant. "Actually I haven't drunk anything yet," Susan replied. "I have just been sitting here and thinking."

Alister nodded. "This place is good for that, thinking I mean. If we had a place like this on the other ships I served on in the past, I think would have spent a lot of time there. There is something about Hyperspace that calms your soul, and makes you remember things long past."

Susan turned back to the look at the holographic windows again. She took a small sip of her drink, enjoying the way the vodka warmed her inside, restoring some of her calm. "Perhaps you are right. But something there are some things best left forgotten."

"That there are Captain," Alister agreed. "There are many things in my past that I would like to forget. Lost loves, and lost friends. I like I said earlier, I live by the code of the fighter pilot, and what does not kill me can not harm me. I have learned not to fear my memories, only to learn from them."

"I wish I could feel that way," Susan almost whispered, her voice still sad and lonely.

"But you can Captain," Alister said. "I read an ancient book once, one written by an old fighter pilot from the very beginning of the 20th century. He wrote a small introduction to one of his books that I can still remember today. Would you like me to tell you it?"

"If you like," Susan said. Inside though she only wanted to be left alone with her grief.

"Ok," Alister said. "Now how does it go again? Ah yes, that's right, I remember now. When you are flying, everything is all right or it is not all right. If it is all right then there is no need to worry. If it is not all right then one of two things will happen. Either you will crash or you will not crash. If you do not crash then you don't need to worry. If you do crash then one of two things will happen. Either you will be injured or you will not be injured. If you are not injured then there is no need to worry. If you are injured then one of two things will happen. Either you will recover or you will not recover. If you recover then there is no need to worry and if you don't recover then you can't worry."

Susan smiled faintly as Alister finished. "That is quite a good philosophy Mr Schmitt, but sometimes things are not quite so simple."

Alister looked at Susan, "Are you so sure Captain. I mean, when you get down to it, then it is that simple. To a fighter pilot like me there are only two outcomes whenever I go on a mission. Either I die or I live. If I live then I keep on going until the next mission, but if I die then that is it, I can no longer worry about anything."

"I would love to believe it," Susan said sadly. "But in my experience it has never been that simple for me. Even thought I have survived there are things that have happened in the past that I still remember."

Alister nodded. "From the war?" he asked.

"That and from before," Susan said. "There are some things no-one should ever have to go though."

"I agree Captain," Alister said gently. "Which is why I have taken every opportunity to avoid attachments. For someone in my job it is difficult to love."

"But you have a daughter," Susan said. "Surely you must have loved her mother."

"Once," Alister said. "But I have found marriage and relationships are very difficult when you never know where you are going to be stationed next. Do you know that in the twenty-one years my daughter has been alive I have only seen her about a dozen days a year. Sure we sent messages to each other, but I have never really known my daughter."

"Is that why you made sure she was transported here," Susan asked.

"Partially," Alister said. "But I didn't really want her to be a pilot like her father. She has too much of me in her though and despite my wishes she signed up. I guess that I wanted to help her, so when I was asked to select the pilots for the Rasputin I made sure that she was posted her so I can keep an eye on her."

"And so you could see her?" Susan asked.

"Yes, it has been difficult watching her growing up without me, and never really knowing her. I hope that I will now get a chance, as long as something bad doesn't happen. The life of a fighter pilot is a dangerous one, and looking back at how many died in the wars, I am grateful that my daughter wasn't one of them. I still don't know how I am going to handle her going out on missions."

"Sounds like your problems are nearly as bad as mine," Susan said as she fumbled around beside her chair for the bottle of vodka she had left there when filling her glass. Finding it, she pulled it out and offered it to the flight commander, "Drink?"

Alister smiled as he shook his head. "No thanks Captain, I never drink. I found that it clouds my judgement."

Susan nodded, "you are probably right." Then she poured the vodka in her glass back into the bottle careful not to spill a drop. "I thought that I could come here and forget about my troubles, but I guess some things you can't run from."

"No you can't captain," Alister agreed. "Some things you have to face down and defeat so you can get on with your life."

"That is the difficult part though isn't it," Susan said as she stoppered the bottle and put it aside.

"It is," Alister agreed. "Although sometime I have found that sharing your problems can help ease them."

Susan laughed harshly. "I don't think you would want to know my problems Lieutenant-Commander."

"Probably not Captain," he answered with a shrug. "But remember that if you ever need anything I am here. I might be nothing more than an old campaigner who didn't have the strength to stand up against what is wrong like you and Sheridan did, but I have seen a lot in my life."

"I will remember that," Susan said, her voice softer now. "But what I have to face I need to do so alone."

"As you wish Captain, but just remember you are not alone. While you are on this ship there are people there for you. I might not have known you long, but you are someone I think I can respect. You have stood up for what you believe in and the part of me that was too scared to do the same respects you for that."

"Thank you," she replied softly. "I won't forget that."

"I had best get going then," he said, standing and looking out the window. "I can't tell for sure, but it looks like we may be getting close to Proxima, so we will all be too busy doing our jobs soon to worry about our personal troubles. I have a large group of gung-ho pilots or organise into three flight wings and assign fighters to, and knowing them, each and every one of them will likely argue over which fighter they are assigned to."

Then, with a gentle, comforting, squeeze of Susan's shoulder he left the rec room, heading back towards the main flight deck. Susan sat there for several minutes longer thinking over what Alister had said. Although she agreed with his philosophy, it had never been that simple for her and she could not forget all that had happened so easily.

Thoughts of Talia again filled her mind as well as memories of the fear she had felt after the telepath had left. After the way they had loved each other Susan had lived for months in fear that Psi-Corp was going to come and take her away, having learnt of her telepathic abilities from their agent. Fortunately, that hadn't happened and she had remained safe, but many times during those months, she had wondered why they hadn't come for her.

She had never used her weak telepathic abilities for anything, except the brief moments when she had slipped into her mother thoughts and that night she had spent with Talia. However, that would have been enough for Psi-Corp to drag her away, ending not only her career, but also her life, because she knew she could not live as a member of Psi-Corp. Somehow though, that hadn't happened, and with a Psi-Corp representative now on board Susan was beginning to wonder if he was not here to watch her, which may explain why Talia was also here. Perhaps Psi-Corp was suspicious of her and hoped to lure her out by sending her former lover to entice her.

Susan dismissed that idea though. She knew the Psi-Corps didn't work that way. If they were suspicious of her, then they would have just taken her away. She had been expecting something to happen ever since she had returned to Earthforce, where Psi-Corp was still in control. However, so far nothing, not even a visit from Bester, who had delighted in taunting her and the rest of the crew whenever he had visited Babylon 5. Susan couldn't help but wonder why. They had Talia, so they must know everything she knew, and so they must know of her abilities. Anderson had certainly known of her relationship with Talia, otherwise he would not have made the comment he did on the bridge yesterday.

A sudden thought came to her, one that was frightening as much as it was comforting. Perhaps there was a chance that they didn't know, that the part of Talia that had loved her was still locked away somewhere deep inside her mind. Susan wanted so much to believe that it was true, that somewhere inside Talia was still a part of her that was still Talia, and that part kept on to the memory of their love. Despite her hopes though she found could not believe it, she could not allow herself hope again after so many disappointments before.

She could still remember the taunting voice of the monster that inhabited Talia's body as it told her how it had wanted to get close to her. Susan had hoped that there was some small part of Talia left then, but after speaking to her, she knew that Talia was dead. There had been no love, no warmth, and when she looked on Talia yesterday, she saw the same cold creature that she had in Talia's quarters that day.

Perhaps the new personality could not remember what had happened between them, which would explain why Psi-Corp didn't know of her, Susan could only hope that was true. Now she would have to deal with the two telepaths on board, and if they tried to scan her as the telepath on Mars had done, she knew there would be little chance of preventing them from finding out what she had hidden so long. Her mother had always told her to tell no one, but she had told Talia. She had done more that tell her too, she had allowed Talia into her mind.

Angry with herself Susan dragged herself back to the present. In the distance, she could see the Omega destroyer diving through a jump point that had just opened in front of its bow, likely the Proxima jumpgate. Soon the Rasputin would follow and they would be on their way towards the colony and whatever awaited them there. Grabbing her bottle of vodka, she stood up and walked towards the exit.

Outwardly, she was now the calm, strong Captain Ivanova who was afraid of nothing and laughed in the face of danger. Inside, however, she was still in turmoil. Susan didn't know why Talia was here, but she knew that a long as she was she could not forget what had happened between them. Perhaps Psi-Corp was just tormenting her, trying to get back at her for what had happened in the civil war, or maybe it was just coincidence and they knew nothing about her and Talia.

Whatever the reason she was going to have to make the best of the situation and forge on as she had always done so before. The Russian in her expected bad things to happen to her, but even her usual pessimism couldn't stop her hoping for a miracle, hoping that everything she had dreamed about all those times would come true just this once.

As she left the rec room and hurried across the flight deck, a nagging thought came to her, dredged up from the depths of her mind. With shock, she remembered what had happened during the trip through time on Babylon 4, a memory she had dismissed at the time. The visions then she has seen she thought were nothing more than idle fantasy, but perhaps there was some truth to what she had seen after all. In both vision she had seen herself and Talia together, but before she could not believe them, thinking Talia dead. Now though perhaps there was some hope.

She had experienced two visions that day. One came to her as she climbed out of the Whitestar with Marcus, Delenn, and Zathras, and the other just before they stabilised the station. In the first, she had seen herself in a torn Earthforce uniform, holding a bleeding and dying Talia in her arms on a unfamiliar, possibly alien vessel. The second had been happier and she had seen them together on a wide alien beach with purple sands and the light from the world's three moons shining down on them. Then she did not know what either had meant, but now perhaps it meant that there was a chance she could save the old Talia, if she could only let herself hope.

A sudden crash close by broke into her troubled thoughts and Susan spun around looking for any danger that might appear. All that popped up though was a grubby looking Nathan Kozlowski, his normally spotless white coat streaked with black burn marks and patches of grease. "Dr. Kozlowski," she said in annoyance. "What are you doing here?"

The doctor looked guilty for a brief moment, and quickly shoved something he held in his right hand behind his back so she couldn't see it. "Umm, just looking around for something Captain."

Susan looked suspiciously at his hand held behind his back. "I see," she said. "You are not doing anything to the fighters are you?"

The doctor seemed to sigh in relief and then he smiled, "no Captain, I am just picking up some tools I left here last week. I need them back in engineering."

Susan nodded. Had she been less troubled she might have realised that door leading into the armoury was open, but she had other things on her mind. "Very well doctor," she said. "Try not to make too much of a mess."

"I won't Captain," he said as she resumed her walk towards the bridge.

Susan was just about at the end of the flight deck when an idea sprung into her mind. Turning back to the doctor, who was pulling a tool-laden trolley along behind him she asked, "Doctor, you don't know anything about mindwipes do you?"

Dr. Kozlowski looked a little startled at being spoken too again but stumbled out a reply. "Err no, not really. My expertise is primarily confined to engines and ship design. However, I like the think I know a little about everything, so I also know..."

"Ok," Susan cut in. "Forget I mentioned it then." Turning away, she walked out off the flight deck and into the corridor that led to the lift up to the bridge. She could have taken the transporter from the flight deck, but for some reason today she felt like the walk, it would give her time to clear her mind, it that was possible.

"...and of course solar panels as well, but nothing about mindwipes or any other sort of telepathic abilities." Kozlowski finished, having not noticed that Susan was long gone.

When she did not reply he fumbled around for his glasses, which he had taken off moments before the Captain interrupted his expedition to clean. The blur he had thought was the Captain was in fact nothing more than a pile of small boxes. He scratched his head in confusion. "Now where did she get to," he said aloud before shrugging and pulling out his diary. Then with an old style gold pen that he picked up off the trolley he wrote a quick note down in the dairy before putting both it and the pen into one large pocket of his coat and continuing on his way, quite pleased with his morning's work.

* * *

The vast red shape of Proxima III loomed close as the Rasputin gently came to a halt in a high orbit above the colony. In the distance, it was possible to see the vast construction site where the planet's new orbital station was taking shape. A swarm of smaller vessels hung around the site like a cloud of bees, either busy carrying workers and equipment from the planet below or involved in the actual construction. Above the construction site were the longer, deadly shapes to two Omega class destroyers, the Vesta and the Odysseus, who were even now being joined by the Apollo.

Years ago the colony had another station, but that had been destroyed in the Earth-Minbari war along with many of Earth's other stations and even some of the outer colonies. The people of Proxima though were a hardy bunch, strengthened by years of living in such a hostile environment, and despite the Minbari attack on the major settlements, they had survived the war relatively intact. Likewise, during the more recent occupation by forces loyal to the now dead President Clark the people of Proxima had survived and fought off the superior firepower of the enemy.

Outgunned and outnumbered the resistance had been forced to flee into the wilderness, surviving off the tiny pockets of water and plant life that were found scattered across the planet, clinging to survival in the harsh landscape. There they were safe from the Earth Alliance troops, who were unfamiliar with the life on the planet and found themselves hopelessly lost in the untamed areas of Proxima III. Eventually instead of tracking down the rebels, Clark's troops had stuck to the two major domes and the mining settlements. Despite their caution though, many died during attacks by the rebels and from attacks by the nastier indigenous life forms that cared little for the war, only their own hunger.

Eventually the planet had been freed from Clark's blockade and with their support gone, the troops on the ground were soon forced to surrender to the few scattered bands of rebels that had hidden out in the wild lands. Surprisingly though when given the choice of independence in a recent referendum the people of Proxima had chosen to remain within the Earth Alliance, albeit with a limited form of self-government instead of under the rule of the Earth appointed governor who had previously controlled the colony.

It was this newly elected leader of the planet, the former rebel commander Jan Mitrovic, that Susan found herself talking to. She had not expected his call, having thought she would instead be asked to meet with the ranking Earthforce commander, Colonel Kroehn who was to be her commanding officer while she was stationed in the Proxima system. Instead, while the other warships gathered in the space above the capital Susan had found herself on the receiving end of a call from the president.

"Captain Ivanova," he was saying. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you. Your broadcasts during the crisis were most inspirational to me and my men."

"I was just doing what had to be done Mr. President," Susan argued, not really wanting the recognition that had come with being one of the three main public faces of the rebellion against Clark. "If it hadn't been me then it would have been someone else."

"But it was you Captain," the President continued. "And the people of Proxima would like to thank you properly."

"That isn't really necessary," Susan tried to explain. "I am just here to fulfil my duty."

President Mitrovic smiled at her attempt to fob off his offer. "Nonsense Captain. What you did for us has never been fully recognised and the people of Proxima, and me personally will not let your efforts be forgotten."

"But..." Susan tried to argue.

The President held up his hand in an effort to prevent any further argument. "Now Captain you wouldn't want to disappoint the people of Proxima would you now?"

Susan sighed, realising that there was no way she was going to get out of what he had planned. "I guess not," she said in a defeated tone.

"Good," President Mitrovic said. "I will expect you down here at eighteen hundred local time." He paused for a minute, "that's around eleven am Earth time, just a few hours from now."

"I will be there," Susan promised, although the tone of her voice did not have any enthusiasm in it.

"Come now Captain," Mitrovic said, trying to cheer her up. "It won't be that bad, just a small welcoming ceremony for the new Earth Alliance troops and yourself. Anyway, you said that you were expecting to meet with the EA commander for this system. He will be at the party... err… I mean ceremony so you will be able to see him there."

Susan didn't miss the president's slip of the tongue. "I will look forward to meeting you then."

"As will I Captain," the President assured her. "Oh and you can bring along some of your command staff if you like. I will also be inviting Captain James and the other destroyer commanders. I will expect to see you in a couple of hours." With that, the transmission ended from the surface, leaving Susan alone in her office.

Sighing again, she rubbed her temples in frustration. She closed her eyes for a moment, but quickly opened them again when the thoughts that hid behind her eyelids were even less pleasant than those that awaited her in the light were. It had not been a good day so far, but at least if she kept herself busy she could stop thinking about Talia for a while. That in mind, she tapped her link.

The voice of Commander Petrov answered from his position on the bridge. "Yes Captain?"

"Can you summon the rest of the command staff and ask them to meet me in my office as soon as possible," she ordered.

"At once Captain," he said, and Susan could almost hear him saluting.

That done she sat back and waited for the command staff to arrive from their duty stations. She wasn't going to force them to come with her, knowing how most officers felt about political functions, at least every military officer she had ever served with. But on the other hand there was no way she was going to this party, or welcoming ceremony as the president insisted on calling it, without at least a few of the crew along with her.

* * *

"Is there anyone else who wants to attend," Susan asked after only Alister Schmitt expressed his interest in attending the upcoming celebration on the planet's surface. "I want at least one other. There is no way I am going down there with just Lieutenant-Commander Schmitt as company." She looked at the flight commander, "not that I don't enjoy your company. I just think the Rasputin need a bit more representation. After all, we don't want to be outdone by the other ships do we, and we don't want to offend the President of Proxima on our first day here."

"Well I can't," Petrov said, looking very apologetic. "In your absence I have to stay here and command the Rasputin. Regulations do state that at least one Command level officer should remain on board at all time, and with everyone else either busy or going down to the surface with you I am the only one free to remain on board."

"And I have some important work to do in engineering," Phillip Moore said. "I have to go over the tests that we did while in Hyperspace. If there are any irregularities the tests picked up, then I need to know about them as soon as possible, so I can begin adjustments before the other destroyers depart. "

"That is understandable," Susan agreed with him. She looked at the gunnery officer Vincent Dreyer, "How about you Mr. Dreyer?"

"I would prefer not to Captain," he said in his low, gravelly voice, while trying to look apologetic. "Despite the fact that I don't really like these kind of events, I have a lot of work to do here. Half of my team don't know how to operate these new weapons, and although most can be automated if necessary, I'm sure you will realise that I well trained gunnery crew is essential. I was hoping to run some drills with my staff today. The main gun especially is very different to what most of them are used to. If you are unable to find another officer I will attend, but the drills are very important."

"Damn," Susan said before looking at Petrov. "How about Dr. Taylor Commander?"

He shook his head. "I asked her, but she said she didn't have the time. She seemed most definite about that too."

"I will be happy to go with you Captain," the voice of Major Logan broke into their conversation as she entered the small office.

Susan nodded, pleased that at least one other of her staff was interest, even if she was a little concerned about the Major's real motives for attending. "Good Major, well that is two. That will have to do. It should be enough to make a good impression for the President of Proxima anyway."

She was about to dismiss her staff when the telepath Anderson walked in, closely followed by Talia and for some reason Dr. Kozlowski who was fiddling about with a small hand-held machine as he followed the telepaths. "I think you are forgetting about someone aren't you Captain?" Anderson asked with a smile.

Susan looked at him calmly, while at the same time trying to avoid looking at Talia, an almost impossible task as she stood just behind Anderson. "I can't think of anyone Mr. Anderson."

He shook his head sadly. "I am wounded Captain. We are part of your crew after all, no matter what you think of us."

With a sigh Susan relented, "would you like to attend this little party then Mr. Anderson?"

He thought for a moment and then said, "no thank you. I am far too busy evaluating your crew's performance to attend Captain, but it was nice of you to ask."

Despite a brief flash of irrational anger at the arrogant telepath's words, Susan held her tongue. "I am sorry to hear that Mr. Anderson," she said, her voice carrying more than a hint of sarcasm. "I was so looking forward to your entertaining presence, we will all be reduced by your absence."

"I am so sorry to disappoint you then Captain," Anderson said, a smile on his face. Susan had the feeling though that inside he wasn't smiling, instead looking at the same way a wolf looks at her prey. She was probably paranoid, but she couldn't help but feel Anderson's only reason for being on board was to somehow trap her into revealing her telepathic abilities so he could drag her back to Psi-Corp.

"I would like to go," Talia suddenly cut in, her soft voice barely carrying above the distant hum from the Rasputin's main computers that were housed in a large room just across the corridor from Susan's quarters.

Both Anderson and Susan looked at her. Susan was surprised to hear her speak, while Anderson seemed angrier that she had spoken without his consent. "You would?" Anderson asked her in a guarded tone.

"I am afraid that the invitation was for Mr. Anderson only," Susan said. The last thing she wanted to do was to spend several hours at a social event with Talia. Even looking at the beautiful telepath was enough to make her heart leap into her mouth and her chest tighten, and every time the telepath spoke Susan could feel a delicious chill running through her. She had to keep reminding herself that this was not Talia and nothing she felt for her was ever going to be returned in kind.

"Come now Captain," Anderson said, turning back to her. "My assistant would be perfect to take my place at this little get together on Proxima. That way Psi-Corp can have a representative."

"I would prefer actually members of my command staff," Susan said, a deep frown spreading across her face.

"Despite your feelings Captain my assistant should attend," Anderson said. "After all our presence here is to determine the fitness of the Rasputin's crew and what better place than at a social occasion like this."

Susan sighed, realising that she was unlikely to win this argument without explaining her reasons for refusing Talia's presence. That was something she didn't intend to do anytime soon. "Very well then Mr. Anderson your assistant can attend, as long as she remembers that this is social occasion and not a test of our loyalties."

Anderson smiled and inclined his head in her direction. "Thank you Captain."

"Can I go too?" Kozlowski suddenly said, looking up for the device in his hand for the first time since he entered Susan's crowded office.

Susan threw up her hands in frustration. "Why not."

Kozlowski smiled broadly, "Great. Umm… just one thing though, where are we going exactly?"

Susan looked at him and for a moment seriously considered throttling the scientist, but realised that probably wouldn't look that good in front of most of her command staff. Instead, she turned to her executive officer. "You can explain everything to Dr. Kozlowski Commander. I am going to get ready."

"Yes Captain," he said as she left the room through the back door that led into her quarters.

Talia watched her retreating form with a sad look on her face. The look soon faded though and her face returned to its normal cold, impassive mask as Anderson turned to her and said, "Come along Ms. Winters. There is still plenty of work for us to do this morning."

Inside her quarters, Susan leaned back against the wall and let her face drop down into her hands. She let out a sob of frustration as she realised she had to send the rest of the day with Talia. It was the last thing Susan wanted to do when every time she saw the telepath she was reminded of the woman she had lost. She now had to spend an entire evening with Talia, when it had been her plan to spend as little time as possible with the telepath. Sighing deeply she dragged herself into her bedroom and picked up her dress uniform, which she had just got back from the laundry down on deck five earlier in the morning.

For a moment, her hands wavered towards the bottle of vodka that rested on the small table near her bed before she dismissed that idea. The last thing she wanted to do now was turn up half-drunk to an important political event like this. As always, she would have to put up with the conditions that had been forced on her, and sit through the speeches of gratitude from the Proxima authorities without any form of alcoholic courage.

She realised now why John Sheridan spent so much time of Babylon 5, and had refused the offers of tours of Proxima and the other colonies that had come late last year. He didn't want to go through what she had to now, to endure the endless thanks and gratitude of those who had been rescued from Clark's rule. It was not that she didn't realise how the people of Proxima felt, it was just that she didn't want to be fawned over, especially after the way ISN and the other networks had been following her around lately.

After smoothing out a crease on her dress uniform and laying it back on her bed she unzipped the standard one she was wearing and slowly undressed and dropped it on the floor before walking through the door that led into her bathroom. A shower was just what she needed now, although it would have to quicker than she would have liked as the shuttle to the surface was due to depart in just under twenty minutes.

* * *


	16. Chapter 16

* * *

The small group of officers and crew who had gathered to see off Ivanova and her party had finally dispersed allowing Anderson to continue with his work. He hadn't really wanted to be seen hanging around the shuttle bay while the Captain had been there, so had been forced to wait until her shuttle had departed from its bay. She had taken one of the smaller atmospheric shuttle, one of those with its own separate docking bay and airlock, while his shuttle was still sitting where he had landed in the main shuttle deck.

Anderson smiled when he noticed they way that the other shuttles in the main bay were being kept well away from his, and even several stacks of cargo crates had been moved to one side so not to crowd his vessel. 'They probably were afraid of scratching it and having to deal with me,' he thought as he opened the hatch leading into his shuttle's interior. Had one of the Rasputin crew actually seen what was hidden inside the Psi-Corp shuttle, they would have been in for a real shock. Where there were normally rows of seating there was instead racks of electronic equipment, all feeding off the shuttle's fusion reactor.

Picking up a small electronic toolbox, Anderson began careful test the various systems to ensure that everything was operating. Although the trip had run a lot smoother than he had expected and surprisingly there had been no trouble on their arrival, he was still worried that some tiny screw on a circuit board may have come loose and a single fault like that could ruin all the records he was supposed to collect. Given the limited space in the shuttle's interior, there hadn't been room to install backup systems, so every piece of equipment had to function correctly or he would risk losing valuable data.

Had anyone from Earthforce seen inside the shuttle, then they would possible have recognised the main console as similar to the systems that ran battle simulations everyone went through during their time at the academy. However, instead of placing the pilot into a projected artificial simulation, this machine projected a real event into a simulation so it could be recorded and viewed later. This was where Anderson would watch the coming events, making sure that everything went to his superior's liking.

Finally satisfied that all of his equipment had made it through the trip from Mars safely Anderson put aside his tools and began to active the main systems. Sitting in the chair of the projection system, he switched it on and scanned around local space. Unknown to the Rasputin's crew and Captain, the telepath had tapped into the cameras and sensors that covered the warships outer skin. Using the warship's own systems, he was able to see anything that the crew on the bridge of the warship could view.

Right now, all he could see was the Captain's shuttle plunging towards the planets atmosphere far below and the hulking shapes of the two troops transports off in the distance. There was no sign of the other warships, but Anderson assumed they were out of sight around the other side of the planet just now, recalling they had been assigned to patrol Proxima III until their departure. He wondered if their absence would be an issue for what was planned, but then decided that it would make little difference. After scanning around space a little more until he was satisfied that he was familiar enough with the system's controls, he switched it off and turned to the interstellar communications array.

Late last night, while most of the crew had been asleep, Anderson had snuck back into the shuttle bay and attacked a link to one of the Rasputin's main computer cables. It was fortunate for him that the cable ran almost directly beneath the shuttle bay as it carried data from the warship's sensors up to the bride. With the codes supplied by Kiel's associates it had not taken long to hack into the data line and he now had almost full access to all the same data that the Rasputin's crew received, as well as the warship's communications antennae. Typing in the frequency he had been given Anderson sat back and waited for the connection to be made.

Because of the distance to the recipient of his signal, currently little more than a few hours travel in real space, there was an almost instantaneous connection, and Anderson was rewarded for his efforts by the sight of the Centauri captain on his screen. The Centauri appeared tired to the telepath, perhaps the strain of avoiding detection by the Earthforce ships was beginning to tell.

"What is the password?" the Centauri captain asked in a voice that was nearly as tired and worn as his face. Anderson got the distinct impression that this Centauri was not a true believer in their cause, his mind just did not seem to be on the task he was appointed to carry out.

"Clark falls but the company survives," Anderson supplied.

"You must be Mr. Anderson then," The Centauri continued, his voice still sounding uninterested in the proceedings. "Are you ready to proceed?"

"Yes," Anderson replied. "You release the hounds when ever you are ready."

The Centauri captain nodded, touching a control out of sight of Anderson. "They will arrive in about four hours and are programmed not to fall into enemy hands so even if they are disabled in combat they will be destroyed. I assume you will be watching."

Anderson nodded. "That is correct. The operation will be monitored fully from this end."

"Very well. I wish you luck then Mr. Anderson." The communication was suddenly cut off as the Centauri captain pulled the plug at the other end.

Anderson switched off the communication system and sat back. All he had to do now was wait until their test subjects arrived and then the fun would begin. Thinking about what was about to happen he counted himself lucky he was on board the biggest warship around the planet and not on the surface or on one of the smaller Omega class destroyers because when the test began things around Proxima were going to get very interesting indeed.

* * *

Proxima III is usually described as a desert world, but beneath the surface were vast reservoirs of water that Earth scientists concluded were the last remnants of an ancient system of seas and oceans that had once covered the planet's surface. Why they vanished the scientists were unable to explain, but in a few places water still came to surface and occasionally even produced a small lake or spring fed stream. One of these places was right beneath the gleaming metallic structure that was Reagan Dome, the capital city of the Proxima system.

When the first Hyperspace capable survey ships sent from Earth arrived in the system they had landed close to the very spot where the dome now sat and after only a day of surveying the surrounding they found the spring that was much later to become the water supply for a city of nearly three hundred thousand. In that spring they also discovered primitive life, carbon based life forms similar to those on Earth and that single discovery was the primary reason the planet was chosen as the site for Earth's first interstellar colony.

Of course, they were not to know about the other life forms that lived in the more remote regions of the planet and beneath its rocky surface, creatures a lot more dangerous than even the largest predators found on Earth. When the first colonists arrived in early 2164, they soon found out about the monstrous predators that roam the deserts and there were many deaths before humanity eventually triumphed over the beasts of Proxima, or at least learned how to avoid them, and the colony was born.

Over the nearly one hundred years since the planet was settled the population expanded rapidly as Earth's government offered concessions for anyone who wanted to leave the overcrowded homeworld and settle in this new colony. With a young and hardworking labour force and land to spare the heavy industry that had so polluted Earth in the past soon followed the colonists, many setting up their factories on Proxima.

This industry is what made Proxima such an important planet now. Almost half of the Earth Alliance's largest mining and manufacturing corporations had their headquarters in the Proxima system, most taking advantage of the lower tax rate levied there. During the civil war, Proxima III was the first planet Clark's forces tried to retake, and during the liberation, it was the first Sheridan freed. Both leaders had known that whoever had control of the planet would likely win the war, as neither side could continue fighting for long without the parts for weapons and ships that came from Proxima III's factories, not to mention the food from the vast protein factories that supplied nearly a quarter of the Alliance.

This is mind it did surprise some when the people of Proxima rejected the offer of independence in the recently held referendum. Of all the worlds in the Earth Alliance, it was perhaps the most capable of independence, with a breathable atmosphere and strong economic ties with other worlds. The offer of lower taxes by acting president Susanna Luchenko, who knew to lose the Proxima system was to lose any chance of regaining government for her party, was enough to swing the people of the planet behind the no vote. Instead, the planet now had a new semi-autonomous status, which really meant that little had changed. To most, the only significant change to Proxima is that the people would now elect a president to represent them in the Alliance senate, rather than have a governor appointed by Earth.

Right now, that president, the newly elected Jan Mitrovic, was guiding Susan Ivanova and the rest of the Earthforce officers from the shuttle landing strip toward the gigantic dome that housed the capital city. Reagan Dome was built atop a small hill that rose out of the rocky desert and while the atmosphere of the planet was breathable by humans, the dome was built to protect the city's population from the fierce dust storm that occasionally raged across the desert world. In the distance, past tall dunes of reddish sand Susan could see a range of jagged hills, which shone brightly with reflected sunlight in the slowly darkening landscape. In the other direction, the sun had just dropped below the horizon, and as Susan knew from the information Earthforce had given her about the planet that meant the temperature was about to drop, very sharply.

Still the president and his party did not seem to concerned about the coming cold night, and were instead walking leisurely towards the dome, while at the same time pointing out the major sites. Susan had tried to keep interested, but she could only look at so many factories before she was bored. Most of the structures the president pointed out looked much the same to her, so instead she looked around on her own, while at the same time nodding pleasantly whenever the president spoke to her.

The president himself was hardly the great revolutionary leader she had imagined, in fact she had been quite shocked when he called her on the Rasputin earlier. She had expected a much younger man, not the short, ageing man who had greeted her. He had the look of a business executive and not a freedom fighter, and when he spoke that impression only grew stronger. He wasn't exactly a very fit man either, and he was puffing slightly from the exertion of walking the short distance they had travelled from the shuttle landing strip. While she could understand him wanting to give her a tour of his planet, she did wonder why they hadn't just taken the shuttle train from the landing strip into the city, it would have been much easier.

Susan looked at him with a little concern wondering if he was going to survive the still long walk to the city. Looking up, the city actually had not seemed to come any closer, the size of the dome that covered it skewing her sense of distance. Fortunately for Mitrovic's health, he didn't intend on walking all the way overland to the city. Instead, he stopped outside a low building a short distance from the landing strip.

"We have arranged transport to the new Earthforce headquarters," he said as he pointed towards the building.

"Isn't it in the city?" asked Captain James, the commander of the Apollo.

The President shook his head and look somewhat apologetically at the small group of officers in front of him. "I am afraid not, there was no room for the structure that Earthforce wanted. So we had to build it away from the city, but don't worry there will soon be a proper transport system from Reagan to the new fortress."

Susan nodded with bored disinterest, until she noticed for the first time the tracks leading away from the building off into the desert, and realised that whatever transport the President had arranged it was land based, not a shuttle or similar vehicle as she had first thought. "Why didn't we just take our shuttle there?" she asked, slightly annoyed at the delay. She wasn't happy about the whole ceremony idea to start with and now it looked like it was going to take even longer than she had imagined.

"Umm, well the hanger we put aside for shuttle landings isn't ready yet either, and neither is the landing strip. We have haven't really had time to finish most of the structure yet, it will a couple of months at least before it is fully operational." The President stopped as a horrible growling noise came from the low structure in front of them. A large, ugly looking vehicle leapt out of it's garage and screeched to a stop beside them, it's tracked wheels throwing sand in all directions, including over its future passengers. Brushing off the sand, Mitrovic continued, "so instead we have arranged for you to use one of our crawlers.

The vehicle was still making a lot of noise, but the volume had decreased a lot as it sat idling waiting for it's passengers. "I hope it is soundproofed inside," Captain James grumbled as the President hustled everyone up the ladder into the main cabin of the crawler.

In fact, despite the external appearance of the vehicle, it was quite pleasant inside, with cushioned seats and heating. Susan took a seat near one of the windows so she could watch the planet's surface passing by. In fact it was growing too dark to see much at all, but the regions near the factories were floodlit so she would be able to see something as they travelled towards the new Earthforce base.

President Mitrovic was the last on board, shutting the exterior door behind him. "Well I hope you are all comfortable," he said as he took his seat at the front of the cabin. When there was a murmur of agreement, he nodded as if pleased and gave the driver the order for their trip to begin.

The cabin lurched as the crawler set off toward the base, but after it had picked up speed, the ride soon smoothed out considerably. Susan looked around the cabin to see where the rest of her party was sitting. Major Logan was sitting next to the Apollo's Captain and the President, just in front of Susan and the other two destroyer captains, while Talia, Lieutenant-Commander Schmitt and Dr. Kozlowski were sitting on the other side of the cabin from Susan. The rest of the passengers had taken seats to the rear of the cabin. She noticed that Kozlowski still had the same device that he had been playing with earlier, some sort of diagnostic tool by the look of it.

Sighing softly at the way Talia's blonde hair looked so beautiful against the dark window behind her, Susan dragged her eyes away and instead tried to concentrate on the landscape that was speeding past her window. For some reason, the sandy dunes and rough, broken rocks rushing past outside were strangely hypnotic and the hour-long trip to the base passed almost unnoticed.

Before Susan knew it the sand had given way to a gently sloping, rocky hillside as the crawler made its way up to the fortress the Proxima government was constructing to house the twenty thousand Earthforce troops that were to being assigned to protect the planet. She hadn't known what to expect, but the sight of tall wall of stone was certainly wasn't how she imagined the base would look like.

It wasn't until she was inside that Susan realised how the place had been built. Somehow the construction team had managed to carve out the inside a gigantic chunk of rock that rose out of the desert. The Earthforce base had been built inside of this mountain of rock, providing it with better protection than any concrete or steel structure would have. Susan was immediately reminded of the Narn capital with its tall stone fortresses. Most of those were gone now, destroyed in the Centauri mass driver bombardment, but when they had still stood, Susan imagined that they must have looked much like this fortress.

"Pretty impressive is it not Captain," President Mitrovic said as he noticed her interest.

"Very," she replied softly, slightly in awe at the sight that now greeted her. Beyond the wall, or rather the cliff face, the crawler had rumbled through a long, well lit, tunnel. Before long it arrived in a gigantic, multi-levelled hanger that seemed to be the heart of the whole fortress. Three other similar tunnels ran off in the other compass directions, while around her was collected an array of vehicles, including at least six other crawlers and a row of Thunderbolt fighters that to be brand new.

Their crawler slowly pulled up next to what looked like a lift and as soon as it had stopped Mitrovic got to his feet and said, "This is our stop, everyone off." He then took the lead, opening the door and climbing down the ladder leading out of the cabin.

The Earthforce officers soon followed, out into the slightly chilly hanger. Susan was struck by how quiet the place was now that the crawler's engine had been switched off. The hanger appeared empty, apart from the silent shapes of other vehicles. The President however did not stand around long enough for her to get a good look though, quickly hustling everyone into the nearby lift.

* * *

The doors opened into what appeared to be almost another world. Gone was the dim chill of the hanger and in its place a large, warm, and well-lit room filled with people and life. Looking around Susan realised that they must be somewhere near the top of the fortress. She could see windows lining every wall, real windows too, not holographic facsimiles like on her ship. The room was large, but no where near as big as the hanger below so the mountain that the fortress had been carved out of must grow a lot narrower the higher it went.

An officer in the brown of the Earthforce ground troops spotted their arrival and made his way across the crowded room to meet them. As he approached, Susan saw that his uniform bore the insignia of a Colonel, and realised that this must be the commander of the new base, Colonel Kroehn. Although effectively the same rank as Susan and the other destroyer captains, he had been given command of the system's defence, which meant that Susan would have to answer to him during the time the Rasputin was here in the Proxima system.

As he made his way through the crowded room, Susan took the time to appraise her new commander. He looked about fifty or so, with thinning brown hair that retained most of its colour and with a neatly trimmed beard. Somehow, he seemed to lack presence though. Someone had once told her that when she was in C&C on Babylon 5 she commanded by her very presence. She didn't really believe that, but no matter what she might have thought about herself, she could not imagine Colonel Kroehn ever leading people that way. He had the look of a politician more than a military leader, although considering the sensitive nature of his new posting that was probably understandable.

Still, he had a charming voice as he welcomed her and the other guests to the party. His greeting was brief though as he turned his attention to the President and guided him aside for a private chat, leaving Susan and her party to mingle with the rest of the guests. This really was what Susan hated most about these events. She didn't know anyone in the room, but by the lack of Earthforce uniforms, she assumed they were probably important political and economic leaders from Proxima.

Several of the guests recognised Susan and greeted her warmly, greetings she returned as briefly as possible. One of the guests, the owner of one of the major mining companies, insisted on dragging her around to meet all of his friends for nearly half an hour until finally she managed to escape. Free for a few moments, she picked up a drink from a waiter's tray and looked around the room for the rest of party from the Rasputin.

It took her a while to spot everyone in the constantly shift mass of humanity, but eventually she managed to locate her crewmembers. Major Logan was engaged in a very animated discussion with a small group of Earthforce officers, the only others in the room apart from the Colonel and the group that had arrived with Susan. She at least was happy, and so was Nathan Kozlowski who was ignoring the party around him and was still busy concentrating on his work, or whatever he had been doing all day with that diagnostic tool he was still fiddling with.

Then she spotted the President and Alister Schmitt who were on the far side of the room talking with Colonel Kroehn and two of the other destroyer captains, to whom she still hadn't been introduced. Deciding to remedy that situation Susan set out through the crowd, slightly urgently when she noticed the mining magnate, who's name she couldn't remember, heading towards her again.

She was only half way across the room however when a hand snaked out of the crowd and gripped her wrist. "There you are Captain," Talia said in a silky voice. "I have been looking forward to getting you alone. We have so much to chat about after all."

"We have nothing at all to discuss," Susan said coldly, while inside her heart fought with her mind. The telepath looked even more beautiful than ever tonight, dressed in a long emerald green dress that Susan though really set off her blonde hair nicely. It was a style she had not seen on Talia before but then this was not really Talia, she had to remind herself again.

Talia laughed, a cold laugh that shattered any lingering illusions Susan might have had about her. "You really should learn to get over what happened in the past Captain." While still holding Susan's arm in a vice like grip Talia reached up with her other hand and gently stroked the Captain's cheek. Her voice dropped to a low whisper that barely carried above the noise of the other conversations in the room. "I mean there is no reason we can't still be friends. It was me, after all, who bought us together before. If it hadn't been for me whispering in her ear then she would have never ended up in your arms, and you can't say you didn't enjoy that. I do have her memories remember."

"You are not Talia though," Susan said as she tugged her arm free. "You are just a Psi-Corp monster that controls her body. You don't remember what we had together, there is no way you can imagine what I felt."

Talia smiled. "I know you still love her Captain." She laughed again. "It is really quite pathetic to think that after all this time you still can't forget, put the past behind you. If you would like perhaps I could make you forget. Psi-Corp has some good techniques for erasing old, unwanted memories." Talia slowed her words as she finished the sentence almost spelling out the last three words and leaving Susan in doubt what memories, or rather what personality, she was talking about erasing.

Susan looked angrily at the creature in front of her. "Just because I still feel for Talia does not mean that I have even the slightest feelings for you. I detest everything you have become, and I ever catch you trying to do anything in my mind I will stick you in the nearest airlock and open the doors myself."

"You wouldn't do that Captain so don't try that tired old threat on me. You are still a helpless romantic and think there is some way to bring your Talia back, don't you. Well let me assure you that she is dead and there is no way she will ever return." Talia slipped closer and ran her hand lovingly down Susan's arm. "That doesn't mean that you can't have with me what you had with her."

"You can't be serious," Susan said incredulously.

"Why not," Talia replied in a slightly hurt tone. "You still are a very attractive woman Captain, and as I said, I have the memories of our time together." She moved even closer and lowered her voice further. "You know Captain, I still remember everything about you, every little detail. What you like and dislike, where you like to be touched, what pleases you. I could give you more pleasure than you could possibly imagine."

"But you don't have all of Talia's memories do you," Susan said suddenly. "I know you don't. There is no way you remember everything that happened between us. If you did I wouldn't be here now." With that comment, she pulled away from Talia and left her standing in the middle of the room.

Staring after her with a slightly confused expression Talia wondered what she had meant by that last comment. She shrugged, thinking perhaps Anderson was right and Ivanova had really lost her mind. Certainly, it was plainly obvious the Captain was still in love with her. She had not missed all the little glances Susan had sent her way since she came aboard. As Anderson had predicted she was having the desired effect, leaving Susan distracted and therefore less likely to be able to prevent the Psi-Corp operative from performing his mission. She didn't know what that mission was but it must be important if Psi-Corp had been able to spare her from the research program.

Pleased with herself after her efforts tonight ,Talia left the room and wandered down the hall towards the bathrooms. To amuse herself she scanned the minds of those who were watching her, enjoying the lustful thoughts of group of older businessmen near the exit. She made sure to give them a little smile as she passed. 'After all,' she thought. 'There is no harm in keeping my options open.'

* * *

As Talia left the room, one person was watching her with less than pleasant thoughts. Major Lillian Logan had seen the way that the Captain had been upset by the telepath's comments, although she hadn't been close enough to actually hear what was being said. The Major, like most humans who lacked telepathic abilities of their own didn't really like telepaths, or Psi-Corp and the thought of the Captain being tormented by one did not leave a very good taste in her mouth at all.

She wasn't exactly sure if the telepath had been tormenting the Captain, but Susan certainly didn't seem happy by her words so that was close enough for Lily. Excusing herself from the small group of officers she had been chatting with, she made her way across the room towards the same hall Talia had just taken.

It took her sometime to cross the crowded room and by the time she made it to the bathroom door, the telepath was just about to leave. Lily stopped her with an upraised hand and pushed Talia back into the bathroom. Once out of sight of the main room, she shoved the telepath up against the wall and said fiercely, "now you listen to me you cold-hearted bitch. If I ever catch you annoying the Captain again you will answer to me."

Talia smiled, despite the fact that the Major was an experienced solider trained in the arts of war. "What ever happens between the Captain and me is nothing to do with you, Major Logan," she said calmly, seemingly undisturbed by the Lily's threat.

"I think it is," Lily said, her voice still carrying more than a hint of anger. "The Captain is not only a friend, but also my commanding officer and if you do anything to hurt her I will make you pay. We look after each other in Earthforce, not like you telepaths."

"I think the Captain is a big girl and can look after herself Major," Talia said, still smiling. "Personally I think you are just jealous. You are interested in find your own way into the Captain's bed and you don't like the competition."

Lily's eyes narrowed and pulled the telepath towards her and then pushed her away hard, so Talia was thrown across the room and onto the floor. Talia though didn't seem bothered though, as she picked herself up and smoothed out her dress. With an angry look still on her face, the Major began to approach Talia again. Whatever she had intended on doing though was put on hold as she felt an invisible hand punch her in the chest and throw her back against the wall behind her, her head cracking against the stone wall with a sickening thud.

Lying on the floor, bruised, and bleeding freely from a cut on her head, Talia walked quietly over to her side and looked down at her. "You really shouldn't threaten me Major. You don't understand what I am capable of."

Lily tried to pull herself to her feet, realising now that she had bitten off much more than she could chew this time. Before she could get up though, she felt something tighten around her throat. Her hands immediately leapt to her defence, but there was nothing solid there. Despite that fact, she was beginning to find breathing difficultly and her vision was starting to blur, almost as if someone was choking the life out of her.

Talia knelt beside the major, who had collapsed to the floor again, and said harshly, "Consider this a warning Major. If you ever threaten me again, I will do more than just shut off the air to your lungs. Next time I will crush every bone in your body, and don't think I can't do it. Psi-Corp has been training my abilities quite considerably over the past two years. If I wanted to I could crush you like I would an ant."

Then she was gone and Lily found she could breath again, although her throat still hurt as though someone had been crushing it in a vice. Clambering back to her feet she stared at the telepath's back with hatred in her eyes, as Talia headed back out into the crowded room. Reaching up to her head she realised that her hair was matted with fresh blood, and so was the wall and decided it might be a good idea to clean up a bit first, before someone else came into the room and thought someone had been murdered.

As she washed the blood from her hair and hands and tried to stop the cut on her head from bleeding, she made a vow never to take on the telepath again without at least a few of her men to back her up. It wasn't that she feared Talia, but anyone who could toss her across the room with just a thought deserved some respect. There was one thing she knew though, and that was that the telepath had to go, no matter what.

* * *

Susan leaned back against the wall next to one of the large windows that dominated the room. Outside it was now dark and she could see very little, except the bright lights of the city and the factories in the distance. Inside the party was in full swing, but she didn't really feel part of it. The encounter with Talia earlier had really set the tone for the evening and it had only worsened as the night had gone on.

After listening to the Colonel and the President drone on for nearly an hour about the new fortress, discussing the smallest unimportant details, she had drifted away. Their conversation still assaulted her ears from close by, but she was not close enough for their voices to rise too far above the background din of the rest of the room. Alister Schmitt had vanished from the group shortly after she had arrived, and after she had listened to the two leaders talk, she had soon found out why.

Snatching another glass off the tray, this one containing a local fruit juice, she had wandered away and sought solace by looking out into the dark night outside. Of course, by her internal clock, which was still aligned with the normal twenty-four hour cycle maintained on the Rasputin, it was not late enough to be night. In fact, back on the Rasputin and the other warships the time would have only been just after one in the afternoon, but on Proxima with its much longer day it was just entering the planet's sixteen hour night.

Hearing someone calling for the president, Susan turned away from the window and back to face the party, or the welcoming ceremony as the Mitrovic insisted on calling it. One of the President's aides, a man she remembered sitting in the rear of the crawler cabin during the trip to the fortress was rushing through the crowd of guests. He was in such a hurry that he bumped one of the waiters, spilling a tray of drinks all over the expensive dress of one businessman's date. Susan's almost laughed at the incident, but any amusement soon turned to concern though when she noticed the hurriedly whispered conversation going on between the aide and the President.

Sensing by the way the President's normal jovial face was growing increasingly alarmed that something important must have happened, she threaded her way past the small group of partygoers who separated her from the President. "What is going on," she asked as she reached the President's side.

President Mitrovic looked up from his conversation when Susan arrived, a visible look of relief on his face. "Captain, good I was just about to send someone to find you. It is terrible. You must do all you can to help us."

"I am sure I will Mr. President," she assured him. "Just as soon as you tell me what exactly is going on that is so terrible."

"Someone is attacking the planet," he said, an edge of desperation in his voice. "And I have all the business and political leaders from across the entire system here to tell them how safe I am keeping them. It is a tragedy. You must to do something to help us!"

* * *


	17. Chapter 17

* * *

"Of course I will do what I can, but I am not sure I can do much to assist while I'm down here on the planet Mr. President," Susan said. "Do you know if there is any of the long-range communications equipment online here yet?"

"I don't think we do, but surely you can use your link to call up your ship and get them to do something." The President's voice still had more than a little desperation in it.

Susan shook her head. " These links are good, but not that good. If I was back at the city, or my shuttle I would be able to reach them, but I think I am out of range here. But surely you would have some sort of communications equipment here."

"I don't know," the President said, scanning the room. "Kriesler will know," he said confidently as he spotted the person he had been seeking, a tall businessman near the far wall.

As Mitrovic hurried through the crowd, Susan grabbed his aide by the arm, leading him towards the windows, and out of earshot of the other partygoers, who had mainly congregated near the centre of the large room. "Alright," she ordered. "Tell me everything you know, and quickly."

"I… I don't know much Captain," he stuttered. "I just received a message from the EAS Apollo that they were tracking incoming fighters. They didn't say how many, or where they were coming from. There was no mention of any larger ships and so I assumed they were raiders."

"Never assume anything," Susan said. Glancing across the room she saw Colonel Kroehn making his way through the crowd with Major Logan at his side. Susan eyed the Major for a brief moment, noting that her marine commander was looking a little worse for wear. She wondered how much Lily had been drinking, but knew she couldn't blame the Major is she was a little drunk. This was a social event, after all, and she had not placed any restrictions on the activities of her staff while here.

As soon as the Colonel reached her side she asked him, "is there an operating com channel somewhere in this place."

The Colonel looked a little confused. "Not that I know of Captain," he replied. "Most of the base is still in the construction phase. I do know that they finished wiring main power through to most levels a few days back, so it is possible that the communications centre could be active, although like you I've only just arrived, so I'm not completely familiar with this base yet. Why?"

"It appears that we are under attack Colonel," Susan said grimly. "I don't know all the details yet, but... wait a minute." She spun back to face the aide. "How did you receive the message from the Apollo?"

"Um, from Reagan dome Captain," he replied nervously. "It was on the emergency channel for the president."

"Is there any way you can call them back?" Susan asked.

"From one of the crawlers. They have a long range transmitter capable of sending as far as the city."

"Can they send to orbiting vessels?" Susan asked hopefully.

"I don't think so Captain," the aide replied. "But I can check. I know they are mainly used for scouting and overland trips like the one from the dome to the fortress. Reagan can relay messages though if we reach them."

"Good." Susan tapped her chin thoughtfully for a moment. "Go and set up a link between the city and us using the transmitters on one of those crawlers. I want communications with the fleet as soon as possible."

"No need for that Captain," a voice cut in.

Susan turned to face the speaker and saw it was the businessman President Mitrovic had identified as Kriesler, and standing beside him Mitrovic himself. "And why is that Mr. Kriesler?" she asked.

"Because the computers for operations centre on level seventeen have installed and should be functional. I don't know the functions of half the systems they have in there, but they are wired up to the sensor array and communications dish. We also finished installing power to most levels, and although I don't think the Earthforce team has finished installing and testing the software, I'm pretty sure they said communications were online."

"Great," Susan said. She grabbed the aide's arm again to stop him from wandering off. "Go and round up all the Earthforce officers you can find and tell them to get down to level seventeen as soon as possible. With you permission of course Sir," she said turning to the Colonel.

"Of course," he replied. "You seem to have things under control Captain, so why don't you take charge of whatever is happening up there while I keep Mr. Mitrovic's guests happy."

"Sounds fine to me Colonel," she replied with a grim smile. "Although I think you have the harder job."

"Maybe I do Captain," Kroehn said with an answering smile as he gently led the President of Proxima away from the small gathering of officers.

Susan had the strangest impression that the Colonel was relieved that she was here, that somehow he didn't really want the responsibility of commanding troops. Normally she would dismiss it as instinct, but this was stronger than anything she had ever felt on previous occasions. She didn't have time to consider it though, so tossed that suspicion aside for now and turned to the aide again. "Why are you still here," she said with a frown. "You have your orders, get moving."

"Y… Yes Captain," he replied with an impression of a salute. As he hurried away to carry out his orders, he could not help but feel excited by what was happening, despite the seriousness of the situation. He had always wanted to be in the military but his father had insisted that he go into the nice safe public service. Now at last he was going to be involved in a real battle. Norris Payne could barely contain his excitement as he rushed to do the Captain's bidding.

As soon as he was gone, Susan forgot about him and turned to the Major who was rubbing the back of her head. "What is the matter with you Major?" she asked.

Lily snatched her hand away from her head in embarrassment. "Nothing Captain, just a minor accident. I didn't look were I was going and hit my head. Hurts a bit, but I'll be fine."

"Well be more careful next time," Susan said.

"Oh believe me I will Captain," Major Logan replied. "It definitely will not happen again." Then under her breath, so the captain couldn't hear, she muttered, "next time that Psi-Corp bitch is going to be the one coming off second best."

"You can come with me Major," Susan ordered. "I don't want anyone unauthorised getting into this operations room. If the president's guests start to panic I don't want them getting in my way."

"You can count on me Captain," the Major assured her.

Susan nodded and seeing the President's aide had gathered all the rest of the Earthforce officers, she led Major Logan and the businessman Kriesler towards the lifts down to the lower levels.

As she left the party, Susan took a slight detour to snatch a rather surprised Lieutenant-Commander Schmitt from the arms of his attractive dance partner and led him towards the exit.

"I suppose there is a good reason behind this Captain," Alister asked her as soon as the doors to the lift had closed. He sounded more amused that annoyed, but obviously had not yet grasped the seriousness of events.

"You bet Mr Schmitt," Susan told him. "According to the President's aide a force of raiders is about to attack the planet."

"Damn," the flight commander swore. "That is a good reason. Any ideas on how many and the size of the ships?"

"Not yet. However, there is apparently some kind of operations room down here on one of the lowers levels. I am hoping it will have a communications link that is operational so I can call the Rasputin. "

"It would have to happen when we were down here," Schmitt complained. "I was really looking forward to trying out one of those new model fighters in combat. I don't suppose this operations room has a tactical display does it? I can still direct my pilots from down here if it has an up-to-date tactical system."

"It has all the latest systems direct from Earthforce," Kriesler cut in. "We were asked to make sure that it was up and running before the rest of the fortress, just in case of an emergency. "Um… although I'm not sure if everything is working yet," he admitted. "The consoles were installed, and most of the wiring has been done, but then the President asked that we complete the observation lounge before we went on to, as he put it, less important matters."

The lift came to a stop and its doors opened up into a dark room. Fumbling around in the dark Kriesler was able to find the light controls. "Sorry Captain, but none of the voice control system here are operational yet. They will be going in next week."

"You know a lot about the construction Mr. Kriesler," Susan commented as she walked into the large, and now well lit, operations room. "I thought you were just an businessman."

"Yes, but my company has the contract for the construction of almost the entire fortress, so I have been around here keeping an eye on things."

"Good," Susan replied looking around a still unfinished room crammed full of consoles that were still covered with plastic wrapping to keep the dust and paint off them while the rest of the room was finished. "Then you can tell me which of these is my communications console."

Kriesler looked around and shrugged helplessly. "I am afraid I have no idea Captain," he admitted. "My company only designed the main fortress, all of the classified stuff was done by a team from Earthforce, and they would be back at the dome at this time of the night."

"This looks like a communications console over here Captain," Alister called from the other side of the room.

"Get it up and running Lieutenant-Commander and I will be with you in a minute," Susan ordered him before turning back to Major Logan. "Major, you stay here and make sure that no one except for Earthforce officers is allowed into this room until I say so. Let President Mitrovic and his aide in, but no other civilians." She turned to walk across the room when a sudden thought hit her and stopped. "Oh and Major, that includes Dr. Kozlowski. I don't want him in here either, there is no telling what he might do."

"Yes Captain," the Major replied, taking up a stance in front of the lift doors and crossing her arms, ready to stop anyone who might try to barge their way into the room.

Walking across to the communications console Susan saw that Alister had already powered it up, and she breathed a sigh of relief, realising that the power to the room had been connect to more than just the lights. "Get me the Rasputin," she ordered, taking a seat on the edge of the console.

Alister's fingers flew across the console as he established a link to the warship. To everyone's surprise, the system connected him without any hitch. "We have a two-way link with the Rasputin, Captain. Your link should be working now.

To test his claims, Susan tapped her link, which was no longer just a hi-tech timepiece. "Ivanova to the bridge."

Commander Petrov answered her almost immediately. "Captain," he Commander said, and Susan thought she recognised an undertone of relief in his voice. "Good to hear from you, things are a little hairy up here at the moment."

"What can you tell me," she asked. "All we heard down here was that a raider attack was in progress."

"They are not raiders Captain," Petrov informed her. "In fact we don't know what they are. The Apollo spotted them about fifteen minutes ago in a group of about a hundred or so and relayed us the information. They are roughly octagonal in shape and do not match any known silhouette."

"Are you certain they are hostile," Susan cut in, eager to find out that important detail before anything else.

"No Captain we are not," Petrov answered. "The Apollo sent out a scout about ten minutes ago and it should be within range soon. If they attack then we can be sure they are hostile. Commander Quinn on the Apollo thinks that they could be from some new alien race we haven't met yet, however I think he could be wrong. I order an active scan of their hulls, and although the does appear to be some interference, from what we could make out, their hull composition is a match for Earth technology."

"Some new raider vessel," Susan queried. "I haven't heard of any major raider attacks in a while. John's... I mean President Sheridan's forces have been keeping them quiet. They lost most of their big carrier ships last year, but for them to muster a hundred fighters, that is a fairly big commitment."

"Well I don't if these are raider vessels or not, but we certainly haven't detected any vessels large enough to be a carrier, or any jump points forming, and with the other destroyers we have been watching most of the system. I'd say that they have to be coming from somewhere in the system. They are way to small to have any kind of jump engine, smaller even than a Starfury."

"That is small," Susan said. "Ok Commander, I will leave everything in your hands up there while we see what we can do to help you down here. Keep in touch and inform us of any developments."

"Will do Captain," Petrov replied before Susan shut off her link.

She turned to Alister. "Lieutenant-Commander I want that line kept open, and when the other captain arrive, assist them in contacting their ships as well. We may need to co-ordinate everything from down here."

As the flight commander nodded and set about his task Susan stood, having just noticed that the rest of the Earthforce officers were arriving. Unfortunately, several of them looked like they had been having more than a little to drink, 'Well they are not going to be much help,' Susan thought to herself as she strode across the room to greet them.

Captain Murdoch James pushed his way to the front. "I don't suppose you want to tell us what is going do you Captain," he asked, his voice thick with anger. "All I know is I am grabbed by this idiot here." The Captain pointed to the young aide. "And forced to come down to this place, whatever it is."

"Bad news I am afraid Captain," Susan told him, ignoring his angry tone of voice. "It seems a large force of raider ships has been sighted, and it looks like they might be about to launch an attack on the planet. I have just spoken to my executive officer and he said that your vessel has just sent out a scout."

"What!" James cried. "That fool, you don't send out a single fighter to investigate an enemy fleet, all that get you is a dead fighter. We learned that back in the Minbari War. Get my ship on the link at once."

"I am afraid it is too late Captain," Alister Schmitt suddenly said, looking up from the communications console. "Commander Petrov has just reported that the scout has been destroyed by the enemy fighters. He never even had a chance to fire a shot."

"Damn," the Apollo's captain cried. "Get that idiot Quinn on the link now, and tell him I am taking over command of this battle. Get hold of the other two destroyers as well and get them to follow the Apollo's lead, starting with launching every fighter we have." He turned back to Susan. "Captain, you know what you ship is capable of better than me. Is it ready for battle?"

Susan shook her head. "I don't believe so Captain," she replied. "Unfortunately, I have been given a ship that is still being tested, hell the designer is still on board upgrading systems. Most of the crew don't even know how to use some of the new weapons yet. We do, however, have a full load of Starfury pilots though, some of the best in Earthforce in fact. Tell Commander Petrov to scramble them and place them under your command. I will see if I can't raise some sort of defence out of whatever Proxima has, although I don't imagine that that will be much."

James nodded and looking over at the other officers signalled for one of his own men to come over and assist Lieutenant-Commander Schmitt at the communications console. The other two Captains, Waterman and Maruichi, hurried over to his side to contact their own vessels while the rest of the officers, both those from the destroyers, and those attached to the new base milled about looking confused.

Susan quickly scanned the room looking for anything or anyone useful she could use. A console in the middle of the room leapt out at her as soon as her eyes passed over it and she realised that it must be one of the new holographic tactical computers. She had read about them in a recent article in an Earthforce magazine while on Station Prime. Dragging off the plastic sheeting, she looked around for the controls that would activate the display.

"I can help you with that Captain," one of the officers said hurrying over to assist her. "I am going to be assigned here as soon as the fortress is operational so I know a little about the systems."

"Do you know which ones are working at the moment?" Susan queried him as he activated the holographic display.

"I am afraid not Captain," he said completing the start up sequence and standing back to watch as a wire-frame representation of the planet formed above the console. A few more taps of the keyboard and a series of multi-coloured dots appeared. It didn't take long for everyone in the room to work out which colour represented what.

A cluster of red dots a little away from the planet were obviously the enemy fighters, while closer in Susan and the other officers could see four green dots. One of the green dots was likely the Rasputin, as it was sitting slightly apart from the others and the others marked the positions of the three Omega class destroyers. There were also three blue dots. The two blue dots near the Rasputin were obviously the troops transports, still unloading their cargo of Earthforce soldiers, which meant that the last dot must be the construction site for the new station.

"Can you get any more detail Lieutenant?" Susan asked. "Fighters, headings, that sort of thing?"

The lieutenant quickly tapped a few more keys and the display went black. With a look of embarrassment, he quickly worked to restore the image and soon had the projection working again. This time there were a lot more dots on the holographic projection, and each ship noted on the display had direction arrows. "It looks like the enemy fighters are heading towards the station Captain," he informed Susan.

"Looks like it," she agreed as she also noticed the heading arrow sitting just above the group of tiny red dots. Then a cloud of small green dots began to erupt from the front of the warships and she realised that their fighters had now been launched. It still looked as though the enemy had more fighters though, and if they were going to attack the station then the destroyers would be unable to fire for fear of hitting the still only half-complete station. Destroyers were of little use against fighter though as their tracking systems couldn't target the fast-moving ships quick enough to hit them.

A ruckus at the lift door caught her attention and Susan looked up from her musings on the display to see President Mitrovic, several aides, and Colonel Kroehn making their way into the room. She sent a brief glare in the direction of Major Logan who shrugged helplessly as if to ask who she was to stop the President of Proxima's aides from entering. Fortunately the President seemed content to just watch for the moment, and if he hadn't she would have ordered him removed. If there was one thing she hated more than anything else, it was civilians who tried play soldier. It always ended in disaster.

Colonel Kroehn, seeing the holographic display crossed the room to take a closer look for himself. "Well how does it look, Captain?"

"Not good Colonel," she said, pointing out the enemy fighters on the display. "It looks like there are at least a hundred of them, and while we have nearly the same number of fighters ourselves we don't know the capabilities of the enemy vessels. We do however know that they are hostile and they have already destroyed one of our fighters."

"Why can't we just send the destroyers in to take them out?" the Colonel asked, pointing towards the large green dots.

"Because it looks likely that they will try to attack the station construction site and if the destroyers move in they will most likely end up blowing away half that station while they are trying to hit the fighters."

"We might be able to lure a few of the raiders away though," Captain James put in as he looked up from the communications console for the first time since the scout had been destroyed. "If we can get them away from the station then the destroyers can pick them off. I will see what I can organise."

"You can't destroy them before they reach the station?" Kroehn asked.

Susan shook her head. "I wish we could Colonel, that would make it a lot easier. Those raiders are moving too quickly for the destroyers to intercept them in time, so unless they change their course it is up to the fighters." Susan looked over to the Lieutenant who was operating the display. "How long until our fighters intercept the enemy?"

The Lieutenant responded at once, reading the data off the display. "Nearly thirty minutes Captain, that is if all our fighters attack at the same time."

"Which is what they will be doing," Captain James said, and he didn't sound like he wanted to hear any arguments on the matter.

"Thirty minutes it is then," Susan replied. She was about to ask the Colonel if there were any defence systems on the station when she noticed a blinking green light that appeared to be on the planet's surface. "What is that there Lieutenant?" she asked, pointing to the light.

He followed her arm until he discovered the location she was indicating. "That appears to be us, Captain."

"Why does it show up as green then? Only active units are meant to be green, shouldn't it be blue for non-combatant."

"Yes it should," the Lieutenant agreed looking close at the single blinking light.

Susan spun on the Colonel. "Colonel Kroehn," she asked. "Are there any active weapons on this base?"

He shook his head in the negative. "Not that I am aware of Captain."

Susan looked next at Kriesler who also shook his head. "Then why the hell does this computer show us up as an active unit? It couldn't be a software fault could it?" she asked, directing that last question to the Lieutenant operating the console.

"I don't know Captain," he replied, confused as she was by the blinking light. "This system is supposed to have some new semi-intelligent battle computer running the whole show. I was told that it was the latest things from Earthforce research."

"That's all very well," Susan told him. "But it doesn't explain why it is showing this base."

"I would assume because the computer knows something that we don't. It is telling me that this base can take an active part in any battle. Unfortunately, and I don't know if this is because the software has a glitch, which is possible, or because I don't know how to read it properly yet. Unfortunately, the software isn't telling us exactly how this base can assist, just that we can."

"Captain," Alister Schmitt suddenly spoke up.

"Not now Lieutenant-Commander, I am trying to work this out." Susan was eager to find any asset she could, and if this base could be of any assistance then she was damn sure she was going to make it pull its weight.

"But Captain," he continued in an insistent voice, one that made Susan listen to what he was saying this time. "I know what the computer is trying to tell you."

"You do," Susan asked incredulously. "Well out with it then."

"The fighters Captain," he replied. Then, when he noticed that her confused look continued, he added. "The fighters we saw down in the hanger. There are twelve brand new Thunderbolts sitting down there. Assuming they are armed and fully fuelled, then all they need is pilots."

A look of understanding crossed Susan face for a second, only to be replaced a moment later by a frown. "But do we have any pilots," she asked, looking at the Lieutenant across the console.

He shook his head, "I am afraid not Captain, they are not due for another week or more, along with second squadron of fighters. The only Earthforce officers on this base right now are those in this room, the rest are at the temporary base in Reagan dome, or arrived with you on those troops transports. We have been shuttling some of them down since they arrive, and I think they are being housed in the dome as well though, so not much help to us."

"Are those fighters ready to launch though Lieutenant?" Susan asked, an idea beginning to form in her mind. 'It has been too long since I flew a fighter,' she thought to herself.

"Yes, they were checked out fully by a team from the temporary base a few days ago, and all the weapons expect a load of missiles were installed. The launch tunnels are not ready though, there is no guidance system running."

"You don't need guidance systems with Thunderbolts," Alister told Susan, realising that she had probably had little experience with the new model fighters. "They are designed to be able to take off and land from planets, so have much better flight computers than the average Starfury, including terrain following radar and improved scanners."

Susan backed away from the console until she was standing next to her flight commander. "Are you thinking what I am," she asked him in a low voice, low enough that no one else in the room could hear them speak.

"Well it is not much use us just standing around here is it Captain." he replied in a similarly low voice. "Captain James should be able to handle things and given the odds, a couple more pilots, especially if you are as good a pilot as I have heard, could help swing the battle our way."

Susan nodded in agreement and looked up at the Lieutenant. "How long would it take a Thunderbolt Starfury to get from the surface up to the battle?" she asked him.

The Lieutenant looked at her in surprise, but fed the request into the battle computer. "Umm about ten minutes Captain, at maximum burn, fifteen if the pilot was conserving fuel. Any fighter launching from here would have a shorter distance to travel than the other Starfuries as the new station is virtually right over our heads."

"That would get us there in plenty of time," she said to Alister, again lowering her voice. After he nodded in agreement, she called over to Captain James who was still busy shouting at his executive officer. "Captain, I have something I would like to check out. Can you take care of things here?"

He didn't respond, instead just waving his hand in her direction. She chose to assume that was a signal of agreement and turned back to Alister. "Are you sure you want to do this Lieutenant-Commander. It could get quite nasty up there."

"Well you only live once Captain, and I could ask you the same question. Do you want to do this? Because, I'm keen if you are."

Susan thought for a second before reaching a decision. "Well there is not much I can do standing around here is there, and as you said a couple more pilots could swing the battle our way. And besides it is not as if I am not experienced enough, I used to fly missions all the time when I was a commander back on B5."

"Then we go?" he asked.

Susan nodded again and turned to the console operator. "Lieutenant you are in charge here. Give Captain James any help you can."

"Yes Sir," he said. "But Captain, where are you going?"

"To take the battle to the enemy Lieutenant," she replied, briskly walking toward the door with Lieutenant-Commander Schmitt in tow. Passing Major Logan, she drew the marine aside for a second and spoke to her softly. "Major, I am going down the hanger below. Can you come along, we might need your help."

The Major nodded and followed them as they entered the lift. President Mitrovic had noticed Susan's move toward the exit though and was heading towards them, a look of concern on his face at Susan's departure. She wasn't about to wait around and listen to his concerns though and before he could reach them, she pressed the lift's controls, sending it hurtling down towards the hanger below.

* * *


	18. Chapter 18

* * *

The hanger was much as Susan remembered it from the brief time she had spent there on the way up to the observation lounge, but the slight chill she had felt earlier had grown into something much more substantial. Behind the scattered collection of dirty crawlers similar the one the President had used to transport them here, Susan could see the row of fighter craft. She hadn't really examined them closely when she had first passed through the hanger, but now she could see that Alister had indeed spoken the truth and they were indeed ready to fly.

In fact, they were brand new models, straight out of the construction yards and although the Earthforce logo had been painted on them, as well as their serial numbers there was none of the other more personal detailing common on Starfuries. Susan still remembered with some nostalgia her fighter on Babylon 5, with its eagle emblem plainly visible on the top. Other members of Alpha wing had used the fighter as well from time to time, but it had always remained Susan's fighter in her heart, ready to fly whenever she needed it.

Now she was going to fly an unknown fighter, a new model that she wasn't familiar with and to top it off the fighter was a Thunderbolt, a class of fighter that she had very little experience in, having flow one only a few times before. Still a Starfury was a Starfury, and the controls in the new models were very similar to the old, although the seating arrangement, weapons, and most significantly, the feel of the fighter when it was in space, was completely different.

Alister Schmitt came jogging across the hanger, returning from his examination of the tunnel leading out of the fortress. "It looks safe enough Captain," he said, while at the same time rubbing his arms in an attempt to fend off the growing cold. "It will be close to impossible to land though. Without the guidance system we won't be able to bring them down here and will have to land at either one of the shuttle strips or on the Rasputin."

Susan nodded. "There will be no trouble taking off though?" she asked.

"None at all," he replied. "If the tunnel is wide enough to bring one of those crawlers down then we can fly a thunderbolt out through it easily."

"Good," Susan said, going over to the nearest fighter and setting to work undoing the clamps that secured them to the ground. She looked up at Major Logan, who was still sheltering from the cold near the lift doors. "Major, can you take a look around and find some flight suits while we get these fighters reach for launch.

Lily nodded, and set off across the hanger towards a pile of crates that were just visible through the dimly lit gloom. High above there were some lights, but they were not strong enough to fully light up the hanger and only the spotlights near the lift made it possible for Susan and Alister to see what they were doing.

The Major returned a few minutes later, just as Susan had finished undoing the clamps that held the fighters to their transport trolleys. From somewhere Lily had managed to find a small forklift and had used it to carry an entire stack of crates. When Susan looked at her quizzically, she shrugged and said, "I didn't know your size Captain, so I decided I'd better bring them all and you can pick one you like. That way I don't have to go back there if the first suit doesn't fit you. It is damn cold when you get out of the light."

Susan smiled in appreciation of the Major's thoughtfulness and then went and selected a suitable flight suit from the neatly stacked, plastic wrapped packages piled up inside the top crate. Fortunately, they had her size. Flight suits were normally specially crafted to their wearer, but this one would do just as well for now. Although if she was forced to wear it for too long it would likely leave her feeling sore and cramped.

She quickly pulled off her jacket and tossed it to Lily before tugging on the flight suit over the rest of her uniform. It didn't fit quite as well as she might have hoped, with something pinching the small of her back, but it would do for what she hoped would be a short battle. She had left her old flight suit back on Babylon 5, thinking she would never need it again. As she struggled to do up the clamps that held the gloves and boots of the suit in place she made a quick mental note to get another made just in case.

Over near the second fighter Alister Schmitt was just pulling on the flight suit the Major had handed him. Susan called over to him, "ready to go Lieutenant-Commander?"

He nodded and gave her the thumbs up signal before picking up the heavy helmet and climbing up the ladder into the cockpit of the fighter. Susan found her own helmet, which, like the flight suit, was unadorned with any symbols or rank insignia, just the Earthforce emblem on the top. She was about to place her foot on the first step of the ladder when Major Logan's voice interrupted her.

"Captain," the Major said. "I just wanted to wish you good luck."

Susan smiled down at her. "Thanks Major," she replied as she clambered up into the cockpit and took her seat. "Hopefully I won't need it and the battle will be over by the time we get there."

Strapping herself in Susan began a quick check of all the systems. Everything checked out to her satisfaction, even the fuel and weapons, which she had been surprised to find, were registering as full on the flight computer. After a final pull on the straps that held her in place to ensure they wouldn't come loose, Susan placed the helmet over her head and clicked it into place. Then she attached the lead from the fighters oxygen supply so she would be able to breath once they had left the ground.

At the moment the helmet felt heavy on her head, but once they were off the ground Susan knew that feeling would vanish as the weight of the planet's gravity faded away. Of course, there was alway the force created by the sharp turns and loops that fighters were forced to make in combat, but she was used to that. Seated the suit felt a little more comfortable, and it did not seem to restrict her movements the way a really ill fitting flight suit would.

A voice sounded in her ear as Alister found the frequency for her fighter. "Ready to fly Captain," he asked.

She flicked the control on her communications panel that allowed her to reply to any incoming message. "Ready to go Lieutenant-Commander. You can take the lead though."

Susan scanned the panel in front of her and found the control that activated the fighter's main computer. She pressed it and was rewarded by a rising hum from somewhere behind her, the fighter's reactor coming online. The main display screen lit up, running through it's own pre-flight check. Just as Susan had found, all the ships systems were working properly and a row of green lights came up next to each item on the computer's checklist.

Pressing the send button, she sent another message to Alister. "Pre-flight check reads go Mr Schmitt, and I have a fully powered rotating plasma cannon ready to do some damage. So as you as you are ready we can launch."

In response the flight commander activated his fighter's thrusters, lifting the vessel off the ground and then the main engines fired and it shot off across the hanger and down the tunnel like an arrow from a bow. Susan quickly followed suit, activating the thrusters of her own fighter and then when it was high enough off the ground pressing the control that switched the main engines to full.

Before she could move her hand back away from the controls the fighter thrust itself across the hanger like some wild beast let loose from it's chain. Susan had little time to react before the tunnel was suddenly in front of her. The quick reactions that had served her so well in the past responded again this time and she gently led the fighter to one side. It glided towards the middle of the tunnel and away from the wall she had nearly clipped with her wing. When she had come this way earlier in the crawler it had seemed to take forever, but in the powerful thunderbolt the tunnel was a brief blur of motion and then she was free.

Like two flaming arrows, the fighters shot out of the mountainside and powered up into the dark night sky of Proxima. Susan quickly realised that the fighter was shaking around excessively and activated the wing stabilisers. As soon as they had extended the fighter's flight smoothed out and she settled back for the short journey up the half-complete space station.

Barely a minute out of base though a voice suddenly exploded in her ear. "Captain Ivanova," the irate voice of the Apollo's captain assaulted her eardrums. "What the hell do you think you are doing?"

For a moment, Susan thought about not replying but instead her fingertip flicked the switch that would allow her to reply. "Captain James. Sorry I didn't get time to inform you of my plans, but I am taking these fighters up to join in the battle, a couple of extra fighters might prove useful. Besides, I will get a better view of the battle from up there."

"Be that as it may Captain, you are going against all regulations. A ship's commanding officer is not supposed to ever leave his or her post. I must insist you return at once."

"Except currently I am not the Rasputin's commanding officer. Commander Petrov has command while I am on the surface. Besides there is no way for me to land."

There was something in Susan's voice that made the other captain pause before he replied, "Very well Captain, if that is the way you want it so be it. But I hope I won't have to explain to Earthforce command why I allowed you to get yourself killed."

Susan smiled to herself, realising that she had convinced James. "I have no intention of dying, Captain. Ivanova out."

The conversation had only taken a few seconds, but already the fighters were nearing the edge of the atmosphere. "Level it out a bit more Captain," Alister cut in suddenly, noticing that Susan's fighter had too steep an angle of ascent. She quickly complied and settled in to a slow atmospheric departure behind the flight commander's fighter.

A minute later and the sluggish feeling in the controls they had experienced ever since taking off vanished and the two fighters roared out into the vacuum of space. Despite being well strapped down, and in a fighter still pulling several gees, Susan could feel a lightness come over her as Proxima's gravity began to receded. Intent on reaching the other defenders as quickly as possible, she choose not to go to far away from the planet, instead following Alister's fighter as it flew just outside the upper atmosphere.

A bright spark of light erupted from below the horizon and the light-sensitive material that made up the cockpit's canopy immediately darkened to filter out the harmful glare. Like all modern fighters the Thunderbolt was equipped with a special glare filters to cut out any danger of loosing vision when flying towards a sun. This lessened the chance of an enemy sneaking up on you by using the sun as a shield, but did not remove it all together.

Fortunately, most of the sun's light was blocked by the large shape of the space station that the two fighters were heading for. Still it added another, annoying element to the coming battle. The pilots would now have to get used to their light filters switching on and off as they fought. It was possible to fight almost completely by the instruments and displays in the fighters, but most good pilots refused to trust them, relying instead on their own eyes and skills for spotting enemy craft.

As they were now nearing the construction site for the station, Susan input the Rasputin's communications code into the fighter's computer and opened a link to her ship. "Ivanova to Rasputin," she said. "Are you there, Commander?"

Petrov's voice came back to her after only a brief delay. "Captain," he said. "Are you mad. I didn't know if I should believe Captain James or not when he said you had taken a fighter and gone to join the battle. Surely you realise how dangerous it is up here."

Susan found herself almost laughing at the executive officer's concern. At the same time, she felt a little hurt that no one would believe in her abilities as a pilot. "I think I can handle myself Commander. Besides there was nothing I can do down on the planet, Captain James has everything well in hand down there. Besides, while I'm up here I will have a much better look at battle and be able to better assist."

"You can say that again," Susan heard Petrov mutter on the other end of the line before he continued. "Do you want to take command of the Rasputin's fighters then?"

"No, Lieutenant-Commander Schmitt can do that. He is the flight commander after all. I will take over Alpha wing. Where are they by the way?"

"Just approaching the other side of the station on an intercept course with the enemy." The Commander paused for a minute and Susan could hear a muted discussion going on somewhere just out of earshot on the Rasputin's bridge. The Petrov's voice returned. "I have placed all the fighter squadron's under Mr. Schmitt's control. As you said Captain it is better to lead a battle from within it, and the Rasputin is still some distance back. Keep an eye on those other destroyers though, they are moving in closer to pick off any enemies that come into range."

"Good," Susan replied. "The destroyers can pick off any enemy fighters that stray away from the bunch while we take care of the rest. If the Rasputin moves into range whatever you do, don't try to attack the enemy fighters while they are near the construction site. You will only end up hitting the station, and there are probably upwards of three or four thousand civilians working there."

"Nearly five thousand actually Captain. But you are right we can't get too close, a destroyer's weapons do not have the accuracy of a fighter." He paused again and Susan heard the rustling of paper as someone handed him a sheet of paper. Then his voice returned. "I have to go Captain. I have ordered the lieutenant in charge of Alpha wing to surrender command to you. Good luck."

"Thank you Commander," she replied as the link went silent. Noticing that she was drifting too close to the station she veered wide, making sure she didn't run into any of the almost invisible metal beams that were jutting out from the half-complete station. Eventually they would form the frame of the new station, but now they were just more obstacles to get in the way of a fast moving fighter. Sweeping around the main part of the station, which had already been completed to house the workers during the construction, she saw the vast bulk of the Earthforce fighters, gathered in several groups of nine or ten fighters each.

The full compliment of fighters from all the warships should have been around a hundred and twenty, but there was only little over a hundred gathered here, indicating that not all the warships had been able to launch their entire squadrons. Spotting the insignia of the Rasputin's fighters she was pleased to see that almost the entire four squadrons from her ship were arrayed below, with only maybe one or two fighters missing.

Keeping well away from the outer hull of the station, Susan nudged her fighter towards the small group of Starfuries that made up Alpha wing. As she slowed to a stop at the head of the squadron, the former leader, a lieutenant she likely hadn't even met yet, dropped back into the Alpha Two position and this forced a rearrangement among all the other fighters as they sought to keep formation. To her surprise, Alpha wing was also made up of thunderbolt fighter/bombers instead of the more common Starfuries that comprised half the Rasputin's squadrons. That fact at least would make her job easier as it was always best to control a squadron where all the fighters behaved similarly to your own.

Of the enemy fighters, there was no sign yet, but as soon as they came within range of the fighter's sensors then they would show up on the display screen that rested just below the canopy. Right now, it was only showing wire-frame images of nearby Starfuries, and nothing on the enemy fighters yet. Susan did not have long to wait as a flashing red image appeared on the edge of the screen as the first of the enemy fighters came into range.

"Ok, this is it everyone," Alister Schmitt's voice cut in. "Remember we have to try and force them out into the open as much as possible so the destroyers can pick them off, and whatever you do don't let the enemy get near the station."

Susan noticed something strange on the screen. The image of the enemy fighter was wavering slightly, especially when compared to the clear images that represented the other Earthforce vessels. Quickly she tapped the send switch on her communications panel to warn the flight commander. "Lieutenant-Commander, look at your screen. Those fighters have some sort of stealth system."

"Shit," Alister cursed. T hen he quickly sent Susan's warning to the rest of the fighters. "Don't trust your screens everyone. The enemy have some sort of stealth system and the computer is having trouble locking on to them. So use visual sighting only if possible." He then sent a short private message to Susan. "This is going to make things hotter than we wanted, Captain."

"I realise that," she replied quickly. "Be careful out there."

Alister's fighter flew into view just to the left of hers and through the clear canopy she could see the flight commander waving encouragingly. Then his voice filled the ears of the fighter fleet again. "Start your engines boys and girls, here they come."

As one, the cloud of fighters leapt out of their position beneath the station and roared towards the enemy fighters. As they did so, they passed into space lit by the distant sun and Susan had her first real glimpse of what they were fighting. The enemy fighters were smaller than their Starfury opponents were and with their stealth systems, it was going to be even harder to hit them. Looking front on they were almost wafer thin with no visible cockpit or anywhere else for a pilot to sit, unless the pilot was lying prone somewhere inside. Jutting out the front of the fighters though were two ugly looking weapons.

Further observation was lost though, as the two groups of fighters became locked in combat. As one the enemy fighters fired, sending hundreds of fiery bolts of green energy across space. Three Starfuries erupting into balls of flaming gas and metal as the enemy fighters split apart in a classic starburst formation, performed to absolute perfection. In front of them, the Earth fighters were left scattering in confusion as they swerved to avoid the enemy fire while trying to return fire.

"Keep in formation," Susan ordered her squadron, as they scattered to avoid several bolts of enemy fire. Spotting several enemy fighters that had broken away from the main fleet and was heading toward the station she quickly turned and followed them, the rest of her fighters joining her.

The octagonal shapes of the five enemy fighters suddenly spun around in space, as they detected the thunderbolts closing on their tails. Super-heated plasma flew in Susan's direction but expecting some sort of attack she had already slid out of the way and lining up one of the enemy fighters peppered him with her own weapons.

To the uninitiated, the single plasma cannon on a thunderbolt was not as effective as the earlier models of Starfuries, but they did not realise that the rotating, multi-barrelled cannon, could fire four times as fast as quad cannons on the older fighters. This gave the thunderbolt an equally powerful weapon with greater accuracy. Susan put all that accuracy to work as the bolts of energy from her cannon tore jagged holes in the enemy fighter, right where she imagined that the pilot's cockpit must be.

To her surprise though, it didn't even slow the enemy fighter down, instead it spun around to face her, its own weapons spitting fire. Dragging her fighter into a loop, she avoided the enemy's fire while at the same time allowing her to come out of the loop almost on top of him. Her cannon spat plasma again, this time aiming directly for the twin streams of energy that marked the location of the enemy fighter's engines. She was rewarded by an eruption of fire from the enemy fighter's engines, followed closely by a massive explosion that tore the fighter apart and left spots dancing before her eyes as the filter on her canopy struggled to catch up with the sudden change of light intensity.

Skilfully avoiding the cloud of fire and broken metal that had been the enemy vessel she turned her fighter around to see how the rest of Alpha Wing were doing. To her surprise and pleasure, they had already taken care of the other four enemy fighters with no trouble and were beginning to form up again, ready for her next orders.

She nodded in satisfaction at the way they had handled the short battle, realising that Earthforce hadn't lied when it said the Rasputin was going to be getting veteran pilots. Looking back at the rest of the battle, she could see that the other squadrons were not doing as well as hers. Even as she was watching another Starfury was destroyed, putting another dent in the already low numbers of the defenders.

Spotting another group of enemy fighters breaking away towards the station she quickly sprang back into action and sent out her orders. "Alpha One take Two to Six and get around the other side of those ship. Everyone else, you are with me. As soon as you are in position we take them from both sides at once."

Alpha One waggled his wings in an agreement as shot off toward the enemy fighters, half the squadron in toe. The rest followed Susan as she manoeuvred into position alongside the enemy. From what the Captain had been able to determine so far, the Earthforce fighters were faster then the enemy, but both were about equal when it came to manoeuvrability and firepower. However, the advantage in speed the Starfuries had seemed to undone by the incredibly fast reactions of the enemy fighters. Once again, the enemy fighters spotted them before they were close enough to make the kill and split off to engage Susan's squadron.

This time the battle was shorter, everyone knowing to aim only for the engines, and avoid the rest of the fighter to assure a quick kill. A few seconds later and nine enemy fighters were little more than scattered metal and flame. Susan, who had again claimed one of the kills spun her fighter completely around and slowed it down so she could take a good look at the battle that was still raging.

The Earthforce fighters were still outnumbered, despite the large number of enemy fighters that her squadron had just polished off. The gigantic shape of one of the Omega destroyers hung over the battle, two of it's heavy cannons occasionally firing into the fray, hoping to hit one of the enemy vessels. They seemed to be manoeuvrable enough to skip out of the way in time though, so the destroyer was having little effect.

She glanced back over her shoulder and noticed that the wing of one of her squadron was leaking fuel, a thin train of pearl-like particles flowing out behind his ship. "Alpha Six you had better pull back," she ordered.

"I am alright Captain," he responded. "It is just a minor leak. I will dump the fuel from that wing and there won't be any danger."

"You will be down an engine though. It is not worth risking your life, so head back to the barn."

The pilot of damaged fighter finally agreed with her assessment of the situation and spun his fighter around heading off in the direction of the Rasputin. The rest of the squadron followed her as she flew toward the battle that was raging nearby, throwing herself and her fighters in the raging storm.

Fighters of all types swarmed before her in a confusing, constantly changing dogfight. Several times Susan had to pull her fighter up in time to avoid another vessel that shot past, dangerously close to her. It was only by some miracle that she avoided being destroyed in the first few seconds. One of her squadron was not so lucky and collided head on with an enemy fighter. The wing of the dead pilot's thunderbolt spun off and embedded itself in the hull of another enemy vessel, then all three exploded, showering other nearby vessels with debris.

Firing whenever an enemy vessel came within range of her weapons, Susan picked off another two fighters without a scratch on her own vessel. At least she assumed she had destroyed them, she hadn't stuck around long enough to find out, just fired when an enemy came into range and then moved onto the next target. Finding herself alone in the middle of the dogfight, she spotted the octagonal shape of an enemy fighter speeding past, heading straight towards the hulking shape of the destroyer. Quickly she spun around and tore off in pursuit. She had lost track of her squadron as soon as she had entered the main battle, and now, like every other pilot in the conflict had been left to fight for herself.

The single enemy fighter was soon joined by three others, all four showing amazing coordination considering the conditions they were flying through. Susan had a lot of trouble even keeping track with them as they weaved and dived past friend and foe alike, heading straight towards the destroyer. She could see the large interceptor weapons along the destroyers hull, swivelling around to point in the direction of the enemy, but it was not until they didn't fire that she realised the destroyers targeting computers were as confused as her fighter's were and could not lock on.

There was nothing to stop them then, as the enemy fighters peppered the side of the destroyer with bolts of plasma, paying particular attention to one of the huge cannons mounted on the side of the destroyer's flight deck. Then an explosion tore through the destroyer and the gun, along with a fair bit of the hull, tore loose and dropped out of sight below as the wreckage tumbled towards Proxima III, caught by the planet's gravity.

Susan had to dodge and weave as she tried to avoid falling chunks of burning metal, bodies, and the debris from yet more explosions as the front section of the destroyer continued to break up. The enemy fighters had been incredibly accurate in their firing and had cut through the hull straight into the destroyer's armoury where missiles and bombs for the Starfuries were kept. They had also managed to time the attack just right, so Susan would be caught up in the debris and they would have time to swing clear.

Shaking her head in frustration, Susan guided her fighter clear of the wreckage and looked around for a sign of the enemy, only to find that they had vanished. A huge chunk of plating with the name EAS Odysseus on it swept past her vision, and Susan finally knew which destroyer had decided join in the battle. It was little help now though as its flight deck and main weapons had been destroyed by the enemy's cunning strike. Even as she searched for the fighters responsible, the Odysseus, wounded, but not yet critically damaged, was pulling out of the battle, it's four powerful engines doing their best to get it clear of any further fighting.

As the destroyer slowly turned, almost on the spot, Susan spotted the enemy fighters that had been responsible for the attack. They were turning around for another assault, this time on the Odysseus' engines and reactors. Switching extra power from display screen to her engines, Susan powered off in pursuit.

Catching up with the four enemy fighters long before they came within range of the destroyer Susan blasted them with a quick burst from her cannon. One exploded immediately, while the others scattered in all directions to try to avoid her fire. She shot around in pursuit of the closest fighter and blew it out of the sky with another burst from her cannon before having to throw her own fighter into a spin as the two remaining enemies turned on her.

As she did though her arm accidentally knocked the receive switch on her communications panel and her head was suddenly filled with the sound of fifty other pilots, all shouting orders at the same time. Fighting to regain control of her fighter, while at the same time trying to shut down the com system, which was still blaring at her, Susan didn't notice that she had strayed into the path of the Vesta as the second of the three Omega destroyers bore down on the battle. The enemy fighters noticed though and they fled, leaving her alone as she finally righted her vessel and restored order, facing away from the Vesta, completely unaware of the threat looming down on her.

* * *

As she scanned the region of space before her for signs of the two enemy fighters, Susan felt a sudden strange feeling of danger come over her. For a brief moment, she thought that she heard someone, in fact several people all calling to her, warning her, telling her to move. Later she would not remember if it was instinct or some other sense that saved her as she smacked her hand down on the controls, sending her fighter hurtling forward at full thrust, away from the Vesta and almost certain death.

Glancing back over her shoulder, Susan shivered as she realised how close she had come to dying. The Vesta had nearly ploughed straight into the back of her fighter and left bits of her body scattered all over it's bow. Instead, she was still alive and the destroyer was free to blow away the two enemy fighters that she had been chasing.

As their particles were splattered across space, Susan tore away from the enemy fighters and the huge destroyer, heading back towards the main battle. The battle had moved since she had left, heading in closer toward the station. From here she couldn't tell which ship was which, but there certainly seemed to be a lot less fighters than there were just minutes before. From her location they looked like a cloud of insects, their weapons fire visible only as brief flashes against the black background.

Drawing closer, she could see that most of the enemy fighters had now been destroyed, with only a few remaining. The Starfury pilots had done their job, but looking at the floating wreckage and bodies still drifting near the station they had paid a high price. A number of the hundred or so Earthforce pilots had been either destroyed or been forced to eject.

Looking around for a new target, Susan noticed a single enemy fighter far below the main dogfight. At first, she thought it was about to attack the station from below, but then she noticed that it was heading towards the atmosphere. Scanning the battle, she realised that the Starfury squadrons at last had the upper hand, but no one had yet noticed the fighter below them. Susan decided to check it out.

Slipping below the battling fighters she increased her speed and dropped down towards the planet, noticing as she did that the enemy fighter was just about to enter the atmosphere, and so far did not seem to be slowing down, which meant that it was likely it was atmospheric capable. Fortunately, her fighter was also designed for similar flight so she had no trouble following the enemy vessel as it dropped below the atmosphere and started heading towards something that sparked silver in the light from the distant sun.

Susan initially thought that the bright sparkle must be one of Proxima's lakes or rivers, but then she realised that it was in fact the sun glinting off the dome of Gorbachev, the colony's second and largest city. The massive city was built after Reagan dome had been completed and so the dome was larger and it housed more people, nearly half a million in fact. It was also, like Reagan, open to any attack from fighter craft that slipped past the space defences.

Although it was unlikely the enemy fighter would kill many people in any attack, as the air was breathable, and the dome large enough so that a few bolts of plasma would not cause too much damage, Susan felt it her duty to protect all the citizens of the planet. The attack on the station had all but failed, and from what she could see, as she flew underneath in pursuit of the escaping fighter, none of the other enemy raiders had made it past the defensive screen of fighters to strike at the station. Still, she wasn't about to allow this single fighter to do what all the others had failed to do.

Keeping her speed dangerously high as she skimmed the upper atmosphere Susan closed on the enemy fighter. However the heat from her wingtips was threatening to turn her fighter into nothing more than a lump of molten metal so she was forced to slow down and drop lower, into the actual atmosphere of the planet. At once, her fighter was buffeted by turbulence, so once again she had to slow down, dropping to a more safe atmospheric speed.

Fortunately, the raider was having similar trouble, and was lower down in Proxima's atmosphere than her was and therefore it was forced to go even slower. Unsure if he had detected her yet, she pushed the nose of her fighter down, descending rapidly out of the sky, the sun at her back. Unfortunately for her, the enemy pilot either had very good vision or a proper scanner and it darted aside, like a minnow fleeing a larger fish, just before she was about to fire.

Cursing to herself, Susan dragged her fighter around in pursuit. She felt a trickle of sweat begin to run down her forehead as she wrestled with the uncooperative controls of the fighter. Ahead of her, seeming untroubled by the rough passage through the atmosphere the small enemy fighter appeared almost invisible against the reddish soil of the planet below. It could not hide from the Susan though and with an almost ferrel grin she increased speed and powered down through the thick atmosphere toward it, the wing tips of her fighter glowing bright red from the friction.

The enemy surprised her again though, and instead of shooting out across the vast plain toward the nearest factories and dwellings it suddenly darted aside and dove down a narrow canyon, flying madly past the jagged rocks that jutted out of the canyon walls. Several times, it nearly impaled itself on a particularly large piece of rock, but each time it managed to dive aside just in time.

'This pilot must be mad,' Susan thought as she moved to follow, making sure to keep her fighter above the canyon though, not wishing to follow the smaller fighter into what looked like almost certain death. With a quick flick of one hand, she activated the weapon controls, preparing to fire as soon as the enemy fighter made an appearance. For a moment, she thought about firing down into the canyon, but its irregular surface was confusing her controls and she couldn't get an accurate lock on the raider. The stealth effect that had hampered their sensors in the vacuum about Proxima no longer seemed to be functioning inside the planet's atmosphere, so that was something to be grateful for at least.

Then the raider reappeared, blasting straight up out of the canyon, sending clouds of dust flying to the air in its wake. Susan could only watch in amazement as the enemy vessel flew almost vertically upwards, a move she would have though impossible, especially in a fighter made for space. She pulled back on the joystick of the Thunderbolt, urging her own vessel to follow, although not at anywhere near the same dangerous angle as her enemy. Even so, she still felt the heavy force of the planet's gravity begin to crush her chest as her fighter clawed its way back up into the atmosphere.

Her opponent did not seem concerned with following the laws of physics though and, reaching the climax of its climb, spun around and plunged straight down again, heading towards her slowly climbing fighter. The twin cannon on the front of the enemy fighter spat fire, sending bolt of super heated plasma on a course towards her vessel, but Susan saw her opponent coming and spun her vessel to one side, letting the enemy's fire impact harmlessly against the ground below.

Then he was suddenly in her sights and she let loose with her own weapons, forcing the enemy vessel to drop sharply towards the ground or risk being destroyed by the Thunderbolt's withering fire. This he did, copying her spin perfectly, before levelling out only metres above the rough surface and thundering off towards the canyon again, leaving a cloud of sand and dust flying out behind him. Her sensors confused by the dust Susan could only follow him by sight, but fortunately, luck was on her side and she spotted him as he dropped down into the canyon, heading in the opposite direction this time.

Flitting in and out behind rock outcropping the raider was almost impossible to target, the Thunderbolt's sensors just not up to the task. They were after all made for space combat and firing missiles at stationary targets, not for trying to track a rapidly moving target that almost blended in with the ground. Still both the sensors, and Susan herself where doing their best, and somehow managed to keep track of the raider as he slid over the rim of the canyon and headed off across a rough boulder strewn plain towards a range of mountains in the distance.

As she chased after the fleeing raider, Susan became aware for the first time of new noises, vibrations, and feelings that just were not present when a fighter was in space. She imagined this is must have been how the first fighter pilots must have felt centuries ago as they took their tiny planes made of wood and wire up to battle against the elements. While she was in the latest model Starfury, the product of three centuries of development and refinement, she still felt a little of what it must have been like.

In space, there was no feeling, no gravity or friction like what she was experiencing now. Every move she tried to make resisted by the fighter. For a brief second she wondered what the enemy pilot was feeling, or if he was feeling at all. He certainly seemed to make a better go of the conditions than her, but gradually her flight was smoothing out as she began to get a feel for flying inside an atmosphere. Always in the back of her mind though, there was a thought that below her was not more vacuum, but solid ground and any mistake made here was almost certain to be fatal.

The brief dash across the plain had allow Susan to catch up with her foe, and she let off a couple of blasts from her plasma canon hoping to get lucky and sneak past the enemy pilot's almost inhuman reflexes. It was not to be though and he easily dodged her half-hearted shooting and began to lead her on a merry chase through the rough foothills. Susan followed as best she could, and to her surprise found herself drawing ever closer to the wildly flying raider. His constant weaving about made it difficult for her to get any sort of lock, so she switched off the auto targeting system, choosing instead to try and make a shot by line of sight, a difficult process in the best of times.

Still ducking just out of her reach, the raider swerved suddenly, away to the left and Susan, who by now was getting a little tired with his antics, chose to follow close behind rather than play it safe and stay above him. Almost close enough to reach out and touch the raider, Susan hoped she could just get one shot lined up and end this chase at last. Each time she thought she was close though, he darted aside again and her shot was ruined.

The raider didn't seem interested in trying to turn the attack back on her now, instead in trying to out run her, or better still cause her to crash into the hillside. Susan was surprised she hadn't already met with disaster during the wild ride. Several times, there had been near misses as rocky cliff faces had just swept past her wing tips. Each time though, she had missed the rocks and continued to stick to the raider's tail, making sure she sent a plasma bolt of two every now and then to keep him on his toes, while inside hoping that just once she would luck out and the fighter would explode into flames. Of course, at this range, she would probably end up being consumed in the fireball.

That sudden thought leapt into her mind and she decided that perhaps it would be better if she eased off a little so allowed the raider to slowly draw ahead of her, only a little, but enough to give her some reaction time in case she did hit him or he hit something. The raider took his chance and dived lower, heading towards a rock bridge that stretched out across a canyon. Beyond the canyon was some mountains, and beyond that a vast desert leading into rapidly approaching night.

'Perhaps he is trying to escape into the darkness,' Susan thought as she pushed her thunderbolt down in pursuit, for the first time hearing the roar of the wind above the throbbing noise of the engines. The raider shot beneath the bridge and into the large canyon beyond, but as Susan moved to follow him, she had a sudden sense that something was wrong. Several times in the past when she had been in battle, she had experienced something similar, an almost intuitive knowledge about what an opponent was about to do. It had saved her before and she had learned to trust it.

This time it was different though and she felt an incredible sense of danger from the hole beneath the rock bridge. She sense an intense hunger and anger, all directed towards her. Reacting on her feelings, she pulled the Thunderbolt back, trying to avoid following the raider. Her fighter protested and a strong vibration ran through it, but eventually the nose swung up and she just scraped across the top of the bridge, the belly of her fighter just clipping a few loose rocks.

Looking back she saw what else she had missed, a giant reptilian creature of some kind leaping out from beneath the rock bridge, massive claws outstretched to envelop her. Had she flown beneath the bridge she would have flown straight into its arms. She shuddered as she watched the monstrous beast skidded to a stop, a rudimentary intelligence realising that its prey was out of reach. She didn't know what the beast was, but had heard that the wildlife of Proxima was somewhat unique, but had never thought to see something like that up so close.

As she turned back to follow the raider, who was still flying straight down the canyon she noticed a shudder running through her fighter as she pushed it downwards again. Her eyes flickered down to the flight computer and she noticed that it was registering damage on the lower port wing. She risked a quick glance in that direction and saw immediately what the problem was, the end of the wing, including half the stabiliser wasn't there any more. Something must have torn it off, either the creature, or the rocks she hit, she was not sure which.

Whatever had caused the damage, it was there now and already she could notice the difference. Each turn and twist was more difficult and she was slipping behind the raider as he tore off down the canyon, seeming unconcerned by her problems. She sighed as she realised that she would need to call for help to bring him down and reached for the controls of the com system, while still keeping a close eye on the rocky landscape whizzing past outside.

Her efforts to raise anyone on the fighter's com system though were meet only with a whine of static from the controls. She cursed again, realising that she was either being jammed by the raider, or the close walls of the canyon were interfering with her communications. Either way no help was going to be forthcoming any time soon.

Looking up again she noticed that somehow she had managed to gain on the enemy fighter. Either he was slowing or somehow she had sped up without noticing. She glanced down at the speed indicator and it was still roughly the same as it had been before, so he must have slowed. Why Susan didn't know, but it did give her another chance, even with her damaged fighter.

Ahead the canyon turned to the right, so the raider was either going to have to turn with it, or choose to leave the canyon. Susan weighed up his current strategy and decided that he would probably stay inside the canyon. Therefore, she aimed her cannon slightly ahead of him, hoping that her strategy was correct.

It was and as the enemy fighter turned she fired. Her shot missed by so slim a margin that for a moment Susan thought she had actually hit him, instead of just the rocky cliff behind him. She missed though and although the raider's ship was showered with chucks of rock, it survived and continued to remain aloft. Susan whacked herself on the leg in annoyance and still angry with herself once again increased the power to her engines.

Even with the damaged stabiliser, the fighter swung around the bend with little trouble and Susan prepared to fire. What confronted her though made her blood run cold. Ahead of her, the enemy fighter was flying almost straight up, level with the face of a massive cliff. She knew there was little she could do, the thunderbolt would never be able to pull up in time, and for a moment almost resigned herself to death.

Her mind kept working though and it noticed the dark shape of a large cave somewhere down below. While her eyes where still taking in this new development her brain had already decided and as a final, last step of desperation she pushed the fighter's nose down and dived into the cave, praying like anything that it was bigger than it looked on the inside, or this brief escape would not last long.

As she entered the cave entrance her other hand instinctively flicked on the external spotlights, meant for night flying and landing. They showed up a clean passage leading into the mountain, with no obstructions. She had barely enough time to count her blessings though before the tunnel vanished and she found herself in a massive cavern, cut into the heart of the mountain. Her heart leaping with hope that she had discovered a way to stay alive, Susan turned her fighter in a wide circle, following the wall as she turned around toward the entrance again.

As she did so, she noticed that something on the floor was moving, just out of the range of her lights. Then it moved into the light, leaping high towards her and she saw it was another of the creatures she had seen outside near the rock bridge. She was travelling too fast for it though, and its claws fell short and she escaped back down the tunnel. Not looking back in case the beast was following her, she fled down the tunnel and back out into the daylight. Switching her external lights off, she forced her fighter into a steep climb that took it out of the canyon, and looked around for the tricky raider that had nearly led her to her death.

She soon spotted him some distance off, making his way across the sands towards the glittering city. She considered giving up the chase, but there were people in that city that were depending on her so she set out once more in pursuit. This time though, she chose to stay as close to the ground as her damaged fighter would allow. The terrain following sensors helped, but even they could not guarantee that she wouldn't suddenly come across a particularly tall dune and end her days as scattered wreckage burning in the sands of Proxima.

Fortunately, for her the sands dunes appeared reasonably regular and she had no trouble avoiding them or any other potential dangers. She was also gaining on the enemy fighter, who gave no indication this time that he had spotted her. Still keeping low, she soon found herself almost beneath him, the raider still flying as straight as an arrow towards the approaching city. She flicker her hands over the weapon controls and prepared to fire, watching for any more from the enemy pilot. There were none though, and Susan pressed the fire control, sending bolts of plasma from her cannon shooting towards the enemy ship. At once the enemy vessel flicked up, trying to avoid her fire. He was too late though and a single shard of plasma burst through his ship, hitting almost dead centre, right in the middle of the fighter's hull.

As the enemy fighter straightened up again, Susan almost thought that he was still alive, just as the fighter she attacked in space had continued going after she had blasted him. Then she noticed the glow from the engines had vanished, and the fighter now appeared to just be gliding through the atmosphere, its aerodynamic shape all that was keeping it aloft. It didn't stay in the air for long though, and seconds later it struck the ground, sending clouds of dust into the air and again blocking Susan's vision and her disrupting her fighter's sensors.

The dust against her hull sounded like pounding rain for a second, but then she was through it and turning in a wide circle to look at the crash site. The enemy fighter had come down almost intact, although it had slid across the ground for nearly a hundred metres before coming to rest on the side of one of the sand dunes. A feeling of exhilaration after finally bringing him to ground ran through she, as well as relief at still being alive after all the close scrapes she had just been through. She thought of the massive claws reaching for her in the cave and shuddered again, hoping that as long as she lived she never came across that creature again. She circled the crash site for a few more times, hoping to see the enemy pilot, or at least learn what race he was. He did not emerge from his smashed fighter though, so Susan decided that he must be either dead or unconscious.

Glancing down at the fuel indicator, she realised that she really didn't have time to find out which. It was low, nearly empty, the flight across Proxima costing a lot more fuel than a similar length trip in a vacuum. After one last look at the enemy fighter, she turned away from the crash site and with the setting sun at her back she sped towards the city, knowing that somewhere nearby there would be a place to land.

* * *


	19. Chapter 19

* * *

The sun was just setting in the west as Susan's fighter cut across the skies above Gorbachev Dome. It was the second sunset she had seen this day, having travelled nearly a third of the way around the large planet during three hours since she had taken off from the fortress. She was actually been rather surprised to find that so little time had passed as the battle in space followed by the long chase after the enemy fighter had seemed to take forever. In fact, Susan would not have been at all surprised if the sunset she was seeing was not in fact the next day's.

Easing back on her fighter's speed, until it was flying just fast enough to keep up in the air, Susan scanned the ground for a potential landing site. Fortunately, especially considering her fuel situation, it did not take long to find one as she soon spotted a line of shuttles near a large warehouse on the far side of the city. This appearing to be the only suitable landing site in sight, she tried to raise the local flight controller on her com unit, however, all she received was static. She tried calling the Rasputin, but had the same result, most likely due to the damage her fighter had taken, or perhaps interference of some kind. Realising that it was more important to land before her fuel situation became desperate, she decided to make a snap decision and set down on the landing strip anyway.

Flying towards the landing site, she passed across the top of the dome. Below her, she could see the neat rows of apartment buildings and the smaller cluster of shops and government buildings near the centre of the dome. Everything looked a lot more crowded than the buildings of Reagan Dome had, but then Gorbachev was the city where most of the mining and manufacturing took place, while the smaller city of Reagan was the capital and financial centre of the Proxima system. It had obviously not been designed with the comfort of its citizens in mind. She didn't have time right now for sightseeing though, so Susan turned the fighter away from the dome and circled around towards the shuttle landing strip. After checking visually to make sure there were no obstructions, Susan lowered the landing struts and, using the small thrusters mounted below the fighter, gently bought it in for an almost perfect landing.

With great relief, she flicked the switches that powered down the reactors and computers and as soon as that was done, undid the straps that held her in place. Hers legs and chest burned with a brief burst of pain as the blood flow was restored. Normally she wouldn't wear the straps so tight, but in an unfamiliar craft and wearing an ill-fitting flight suit, she had wanted all the protection she could get. Susan rubbed her legs to restore circulation and, as soon as she was assured that she could walk without any trouble, climbed out of the cockpit and down the ladder built into the side of the fighter, which Susan had lowered soon after her fighter had touched down.

Only one other person was visible on the silent landing field as Susan climbed down onto the red sands. He quickly hurried over towards her and she could see he was an old mechanic. At least that was what she assumed by his greasy blue uniform, and rag hanging out of a pocket. Susan unclipped her heavy helmet and tucked it under on arm as she waited for him to arrive.

"Good afternoon I am Captain Ivanova of the EAS Rasputin," she said before the mechanic could even get in a complaint about not being allowed to land here. She could see him about to open his mouth, probably upset about some rule or something, and wasn't about to waste any more time that necessary.

"The Ivanova," he asked, awe creeping into his voice. "The one that was on the vids all the time during the war."

"That was me," she admitted. She didn't really want to rely on her reputation, but wanted to get back to Reagan Dome and find out what was going on as soon as she could. Not to mention let the Rasputin know she was still alive. From what she knew of Commander Petrov, he would be very worried by her absence.

The mechanic stuck out his hand for Susan to shake, and after a cautious glance at the coolant stains on it she took up his offer, if only very briefly. "Well it is certainly a pleasure to meet you Captain," he said enthusiastically. "Why, we all used to watch your broadcasts every day back when Clark's goons were trying to break us. Just wait until I tell Bert about this, he will be so jealous."

"I sure he will," Susan said, hiding a groan. "Right now though, I am looking for a shuttle to Reagan dome. Is there one leaving soon?"

"Oh no, Captain, no shuttles. It gets a bit dangerous out here after dark, so everyone usually sticks to the domes once the sun goes down, unless they have a crawler of course."

"Is that because of those big lizards in the mountains," she asked.

The mechanic looked a little confused for a second before he realised what she the creature she was talking about, "You mean the Hymir?"

"Well I don't know what it is called, all I know was that it was a big lizard with big claws, really big claws. It came a lot closer than I'd like to taking a bite out of my fighter."

"That sound's like the Hymir," the mechanic said with a smile. "You don't have to worry about them, they are harmless enough if you keep out of their way. I was talking about the tooth worms."

"Worms?" Susan asked. "No wait, I don't want to know. Is there any way I can get back to Reagan then?"

The mechanic thought for a moment. "Well you could take the train, that runs all thirty six hours of the day and night. They leave about every ten minutes from the station in the dome. I would have to run you up to the dome though as you wouldn't want to walk there when it is getting dark. After all, the worms will be coming out soon. In fact if I were you I would get inside."

He pointed across the landing strip to a low hanger of some kind, where a shuttle could be seen sitting half in and half out of the large doors. "You will safe enough inside there," he told her. "We electrify the entrances, and those worms can't burrow through solid concrete."

Susan was now even surer that she didn't want to meet the creatures he was talking about, and hurried across the landing strip towards the well-lit hanger, the mechanic close behind her. As she entered the hanger, she noticed a small indentation cut parallel to the entrance. The mechanic noticed her interest and said, "Yep that's where we keep the wire. We run a current through it at a certain frequency and it keeps the worms away. Otherwise you and me would be nothing but bare bones by morning, those little pests would eat anything. They don't seem to harm metal or anything that isn't living though, so your fighter will be ok."

"How soon can you get me to the dome?" Susan asked him, deciding that the sooner she got back to her ship the better. There hadn't been mention of flesh-eating worms or huge fighter-swallowing lizards in the information she had read on Proxima. Now that she knew what the place was like, she was glad she was going to be in space most of the time she was stationed here, Proxima was beginning to sound a little too dangerous for her tastes.

"Well I will have to go and warm up the old crawler. I don't take it out much so it is a bit rusty. Once I get it started though, it will go like blazes. You just sit here by the heater and I will go and get the card."

Susan nodded and sat down on an old stool next to a heater that was even older. As she was still in her flight suit, she unclipped the gloves and airtight plastic sleeves that had slipped over her boots. After putting them down on a small table with the helmet, she pulled off the rest of the suit, struggling for several seconds as she tried to get her arms free.

She was immediately glad that she was near a heater, even one as old as this model was. During the flight, she hadn't realised how much she had been sweating in the heated flight-suit, and now in the cold night air she was left shivering. The heater soon warmed her up though, so by the time the mechanic returned with the card necessary to unlock and start the crawler, she was almost comfortable.

No heater could replace the sense of security of the huge domed city though and when the mechanic asked if she was ready to go, Susan needed no encouragement. Following him across to the other side of the hanger, past the partially disassembled shuttle she climbed into the cabin of a rusty crawler, noting with some pleasure that the heater in the main cabin still functioned, even if the rest of the vehicle was more than a little suspect. It started without any problems though, and soon Susan was on her way back to civilisation and away from any other monsters native to the world that might be hidden out in the wilderness.

* * *

Easing himself back into the command chair on the bridge, Gregor Petrov stretched out and allowed himself to relax. It had been a busy few hours, and he had been in the thick of it. Fortunately, the Captain had survived her brief stint as a fighter pilot, and despite his misgivings she had somehow managed to wind up a hero once again, being the only one who had been able to bring down one of the enemy fighters intact. Petrov shook his head and could not help but wonder if perhaps somewhere out there was someone or something that kept watch over Ivanova, certainly she seemed to have lived through events and wars that, from the stories he had heard, would make most people never want to leave Earth again.

Picking up his hot cup of coffee Petrov took a sip, enjoying the warm feeling it left in his stomach. With the battle over for now, he could look forward to a nice quiet afternoon. At least that was the plan. The Captain was still down on Proxima, and with any luck he wouldn't have to worry about her for the rest of the afternoon, as it would take her at least that long to get back from where she had landed her fighter. For a moment, he wished he could have been assigned a nice by the book kind of Captain, one that never took any risks and sent their subordinates to do the hard work instead of insisting on leaping into the action themselves.

Instead he had Ivanova, who had shown by her actions over the past week that she had no intention of going by the book and staying on the bridge while sending her crew out to handle the kind of activities she seemed to be insisting on doing herself. It didn't look likely that she was going to have a sudden change of heart anytime soon either, and so he was going to be left to worry about her constantly. After all, it was every good executive officers job to try to keep the captain of his ship alive. Well actually, he wasn't sure if things worked that way on Centauri vessels, they did have some odd customs and from what he had heard, assassination was often consider the best way for advancement. Or was that the Narn, Petrov wasn't that familiar with either race, as he had spent the majority of his time in Earthforce stationed on its colony worlds, and had yet to venture out of Earth Alliance space.

Still it could have been worse. At least Ivanova was better looking than some of the captains he had served under, Captain Vandenbroek of the Horus is one name that immediately sprung to mind. He was retired now, but when Petrov had served under him, it was said that he could shatter a mirror at a hundred paces. Still he had been a good soldier, and one of the few to bring his ship through the Earth/Minbari war intact.

"Commander," a voice called, bringing his thoughts back to the present.

Petrov sighed and put down his coffee cup, looking over at the crewman who had spoken. "What is it?" he asked, a little irritably.

"Sorry to disturb you sir," the young officer said. "Sensors have just reported a jump point forming near Proxima I."

The Commander leapt to his feet. "Where?' he asked. "Put it on the display."

The crewman quickly complied and the holographic viewscreen, which had until now been showing the now peaceful upper atmosphere of Proxima III, quickly went black before bringing up a long range scan of Proxima I. This image of course was little more than a computer representation of what was out there and lacked the detail of the normal display, but it was still possible to see the swirling shape of a jump point, and a large bulky vessel heading towards it.

"Unknown vessel is entering jump point Sir," came the report from the sensor operator. "Silhouette matches that of a JMC short range bulk tanker."

Watching closely as the computer displayed a wire-frame representation of the cumbersome vessel in question. "What is it doing so far off the normal routes," he murmured to himself. "Ensign," he said turning back to the sensor operator. "Log that vessel as suspicious and put out an alert on its ident code. Whoever the captain of that ship is, he has some serious questions to answer, not the least being why his ship has jump engines, they most certainly are not standard equipment for that class of commercial transport."

"I am sorry sir, but the computer was unable to record vessel's ident code. It does not appear to have one."

"Very strange," Petrov mused. "Alright then log its description, time and direction of jump and any other details your sensors collected. I want a report in my hands later today so I have something to tell the captain."

"Yes Sir," was the swift reply.

Petrov sat back down in the command chair, but this time did not have time for coffee. There was something about the sudden appearance, or rather disappearance of this vessel that just didn't ring true to him, especially after those fighters appeared out of nowhere. A suspicion was beginning to form in his mind, and the more he thought about it the less he liked it.

* * *

The underground train sped along a dark tunnel, with only the lights inside the cabin to give Susan any idea of where she was going. "This was the quickest way to Reagan," the official she had spoken to back in Gorbachev Dome had said. They had even given her a car all to herself, but still she would have preferred to take a shuttle, or even her fighter. Still, it was better than the monorails on Mars. There you could see what was going to kill you, here you were in total ignorance until the moment of impact.

Susan knew she was probably being paranoid, that few accidents ever happened on the monorails, that they were safer than space travel. She had heard all the arguments, but still she didn't like them, especially the way they were controlled almost entirely by computer, with no human drivers at all. In her opinion, any safe form of transport should have a living pilot. No machine, no matter how intelligent, could react as quickly to problems as a live pilot.

The trip was short though, as the advanced magnetic levitation system, which had been built by a Centauri company just two years ago, pushed the train along at speeds nearly three times faster than the monorails on Mars, despite their similar propulsion systems. A brief flash as the row of lights that signified the end of the tunnel sped past and the train began to slow, sliding gently to a stop at the main station in Reagan.

She had left Gorbachev soon after sunset, but here in Reagan it was late in the night, the air cold and damp against her skin as she left the car. Both domes lacked the atmospheric controls common in Martian cities, deciding they were a waste of resources on a planet where the air was breathable. Susan imagined this was why she saw few people near the station, in fact only one man standing quietly near the exit, dressing in an unfamiliar uniform.

It soon became obvious that the guard, she recognised the uniform as belonging the local Proxima security force, was waiting for her. As soon as she walked off the train, he started towards her, a package of some kind tucked under his arm. With some surprise, she accepted her jacket from the guard. She had left it behind with Major Logan, so that meant that the Major, most likely the other Earthforce officers, and probably President Mitrovic as well, were all back in the capital.

After waiting while she zipped up her jacket, which provided a little more protection against the cold than the thin white shirt, which was all she had worm underneath, the guard guided her towards a small ground car which sat quietly outside the station, it's rear door open to receive her. She took her seat and sighed in pleasure as the security officer closed the door and the freezing cold air outside vanished, to be replaced by the warm, heated interior of the vehicle.

As the vehicle sped silently away from the monorail station, Susan realised that it was most likely President Mitrovic's personal transport, as the dome was large enough for its citizens to require vehicles. In fact, all the buildings were within a short walking distance of each other, so she assumed this vehicle was used by the President primarily for security reasons. Certainly during the quick trip through the city to the government buildings, there was no sign of any similar vehicles, although the road they travelled down had been constructed with ground traffic in mind.

Government house was a tall, almost Gothic structure built around the central strut for the dome, which rose high above the centre of the building. For a moment it reminded her of Psi-Corp headquarters in Earthdome, which of course she had always seen from the other side of the street, not willing to go anywhere near that den of telepaths. It had the same tall columns though, and the statues. Here though, most of the statues appeared to be smashed, probably a legacy of the civil war and the temporary occupation of the major settlements by Clark's troops. No other scars from that time had been visible in the city though, but of course, it was night and despite the bright streetlights, it was impossible to see everything.

Pulling up outside the long flight of stairs leading up into the government building, the guard again opened the doors of the car. After she had climbed out, he led her up the stairs, past a guard post and into a large hall. There, Susan was met by the presidential aide from the party. She couldn't remember being told his name, so instead just waved off his greetings and asked him to take to see the president at once.

The aide agreed without complaint, and took her through a maze of corridors, up another flight of stairs and finally through two huge doors, carved with scenes that reminded her strongly of the desert she had flown over earlier, before finally leading her into another large room. At the far end of the hall, a small collection of Earthforce officers was gathered around a desk that was easily dwarfed by the size of the room. Sitting in a chair behind the desk was President Mitrovic, and seeing Susan entering he waved for her to come over and join the rest of the Earthforce personal.

"Captain," he said as soon as she was within earshot. "It is good to see you are still alive. I was very concerned when you ran off like that, and so was Captain James here."

Susan turned as nodded in the direction of the Apollo's captain. He nodded back respectfully, and for the moment didn't it didn't seem like he wanted to bite her head off. "I did what I thought was necessary Mr. President," Susan replied. "And the results as I am sure you will agree were worth the risk."

"I am not sure I can agree with that Captain," Mitrovic said shaking his head. He also didn't seem that upset with her though, more worried that anything. "Still your risk did manage to bring down one of those raiders intact, which is more than anyone else managed."

"You mean no other enemy fighter survived?" Susan asked, finding that a little surprising.

The President shook his head. "I am afraid not. They fought to the last man, and despite repeated calls for them to surrender, there was no response. None of the enemy fighters were able to be captured either, they all had some sort of self destruct system that destroyed their vessel if it was too damaged to continue."

Susan hadn't noticed anything like that during the battle, but had no reason to doubt the President's words. "They don't sound like raiders then to me," she said. "Whenever I have fought raiders before they usually run at the first sign of any real resistance. The actions you describe to me sound more like the actions of fanatics."

"Perhaps," Captain James said, speaking up for the first time she arrived. "We also haven't recovered any bodies, or in fact even any traces of bodies."

"You don't suspect drone fighters do you captain?" Susan asked with a frown.

He shrugged. "It is possible. I have had teams from the station scanning the site of the battle for nearly two hours now. Despite their best efforts, so far they have recovered no trace of any organic life, except those from our own ships, of course. We have been checking the DNA of each body we find and so far they all match pilots we lost."

"That fighter I fought on the surface was no drone fighter," Susan said firmly. "Not the way it laid that trap for me in the canyon, that took real intelligence, and I refuse to believe that anyone could make a computer smart enough to fly the way that fighter pilot did."

"Well we will know soon enough," the President said, breaking into the two captain's discussion. "I have dispatched a couple of crawlers from Gorbachev. They've been order to bring in the fighter you forced down in the desert. Once our technicians get to work on it then we will soon know what makes it tick."

"I guess we will," Susan replied, leaning against the desk to rest her tired legs. "If it is still out there. Those creatures you have out in the desert might decide that it will taste good, they nearly took a bite out of my fighter, and I was in the air at the time."

The President looked confused for a moment, just like the mechanic earlier. "Oh you mean the Hymir," he said after he realised what Susan must have encountered. "They are harmless enough, as long as you stay away from them. Weird creatures really, we think they actually consume rocks as their main food source."

"Well this one tried to eat me, in fact there were two of them, and neither one showed much respect."

Mitrovic laughed. "They usually don't Captain. We just keep away from their lairs and they leave us alone. They were responsible for a few deaths during the earlier days of the colony, but they don't come in close to our settlements much any more. We leave them alone and they leave us alone, and we all seem to get along fine."

"Well you can be very certain I will be leaving them well alone for the rest of my stay," Susan said firmly. "In fact if I never see another one of those things again in my life I won't be sorry."

"Well at least you survived the encounter Captain," the President told her. "Many of the early settlers were not so lucky." He then paused and shuffled some papers around his desk before continuing. "Anyway, in answer to your question, I don't think the Hymir will do anything to the crashed fighter, they rarely leave their mountain lairs."

Susan nodded. Then her mind turned to other matters and her features took on a grimmer tone. "Do you know yet how many of our pilots were killed?" she asked, changing the topic back to matters that are more important.

"Captain James?" the President looked expectantly at the Apollo's captain.

He consulted a data pad he had tucked under his arm. "We lost twelve pilots from the Vesta, two from the Odysseus, nine from the Apollo and five from the Rasputin. In addition, the Odysseus lost another thirty-five crewmembers when these fighters blew up a good portion of her flight deck. They have put out the fires and sealed the hull, but will still be laid up for a couple of weeks at the very least while repairs are conducted."

Susan shook her head sadly. She hadn't expected this many deaths. "And the enemy?" she asked.

"All one hundred and thirty of their fighters were destroyed or self-destructed after taking critical damage, with the exception of the one you downed of course."

"Well that is some good news at least," Susan said, although he face didn't show any pleasure at the report. "Do we have any idea at all where they come from?"

One of the other Captains, who she remembers as a Captain Waterman from the Odysseus, spoke up to answer her question. "We believe either a base or a carrier ship of some kind. Your executive officer, Commander Petrov, reported that a JMC civilian tanker jumped out of the system from near Proxima I just a few minutes before you got here. I think the fighters came from the direction of Proxima I." Waterman turned and looked at James for confirmation.

"That is correct," the Apollo's captain confirmed. "They definitely came from the direction of the inner planet, and given that place is little more than a burning hell I can't think of any good reason a big tanker like the one Commander Petrov described would be hanging around there."

"I didn't know they had jump engines," Susan said. "I thought they were mainly confined to jump gates and in system travel, just like most of the rest of the civilian transport fleets."

"They are not supposed to," Waterman agreed. "That's what makes this craft suspicious. After all, if that vessel had one modification, then couldn't it also have had more alterations made? Commander Petrov also said that it had no ident code, which makes it even more suspicious. I think someone must have done some serious modifications to that tanker. If we had been hit by Delta V fighters, then I'd be suggesting it was a raider command and control vessel right now."

"Would it make a good carrier though," Captain Maruichi of the Vesta asked.

Waterman nodded. "I think it would. If you removed the main storage tank and just kept the basic hull, maybe strengthened it a little with some armour plating. Those tankers are big enough that they could store a good-sized number of fighters inside each one. Of course, they would be a clumsy as an ox, and their reactors are not big enough to handle any sort of heavy weapon emplacements, especially with a jump engine as well. But apart from that, if all you wanted was a large carrier then that sort of ship would serve."

Susan nodded, agreeing with Waterman's explanation. "Any reason why we didn't pick it up?" she asked. "Those tankers should stand out from half a system away, they have enough of a signature to register on any one of our ship's sensors."

The other captains didn't have an answer for that question. "Perhaps some sort of stealth system," was Waterman's best guess. "Like the one the Minbari used during the war. After all, those fighters had something like that according to the reports, which is probably why we lost so many of our own. They had a distinct advantage over us in that regard."

James and Maruichi nodded in agreement, and Susan couldn't help but agree that Waterman had come up with the most logical explanation. The fighters had definitely had some sort of stealth system, and without it, they would have been little match for the powerful Starfuries. With their tracking systems unable to properly lock onto the enemy fighters, it had been left to the skill of each pilot to make the shot. Susan was pleased that so few of her own fighter pilots had been killed, and it was a testimony to their skill that out of forty-eight fighters only five had been lost.

"Well I don't think there is much more we can discover until they bring in that wrecked fighter tomorrow," President Mitrovic said with a yawn, which made Susan realised that by Proxima time it was actually close to midnight. On the Earthforce vessels, which always kept Earth time it was only late in the afternoon. She still felt tired though, especially after recent the battle.

"Sounds like a good idea," Susan agreed. "Just one thing though before we go. I was wondering if I could have permission to send one of my own staff down to help examine the fighter, Dr. Kozlowski the Rasputin's designer."

"Is he any good," the President asked sceptically.

"He designed my ship," Susan told him. "And from what I have seen there is very little he doesn't know about starship design. While the Rasputin is not exactly a fighter, I assume he would still probably know enough to be of some assistance. I don't imagine that you have many starship designers living here on Proxima."

"No we don't Captain," agreed the President, although his tone let Susan know that it was a sore point with him. Probably because of the rich rewards a shipyard like the one on Orion VII could bring to a colony. "Very well," he conceded after a moments thought. "He may assist, as this all happened in Proxima space, our scientists will be in charge."

"That sounds fair," Susan said as she hopped up off the desk. "And now, if you will excuse me. I think I shall return to my ship." She saluted the other Captains, and Colonel Kroehn who had been leaning quietly against the back wall without saying anything, a tall drink in his hand. After they returned her salute, and raised no objection to her departure, she turned to leave.

The voice of President Mitrovic called her attention back to the desk though, after she had only taken a couple of steps. "Oh Captain," he said. "Your staff are in the side room over there." The President pointed in the direction of a small door halfway along the wall, almost hidden behind a large stature of some anonymous Proxima leader. "Also I will organise a crawler to take you right to your shuttle. You want to be careful out after dark, there are some rather nasty creatures around. They are none to particular about what they eat either."

Nodding her thanks, she walked over to the door and opened it. Behind was a large formal dining room. Major Logan was sitting at the far end of one side of the table, all the while staring daggers at Talia was sat opposite, her eyes closed as she appeared to be meditating. Susan watched her for a moment, just enjoying the way the telepaths body moved as she breathed.

She quickly pushed aside those thoughts and walked into the room. Major Logan looked up as soon as Susan entered, and she looked almost relieved as she leapt to her feet and hurried over to Susan's side. G lancing down the other direction of the room Susan saw the rest of the Earthforce officers who had been at the party. They were playing a game with some kind of holographic chessboard, the tiny holographic creatures the board generated fighting each other as the players made moves. Alone on one side of the table was Dr. Kozlowski, while all the other Earthforce personal were busy handing out hints and suggestions to the lieutenant who was challenging the doctor.

"Dr. Kozlowski," she called out. "Time to go, the shuttle leaves as soon as we get on board."

The doctor looked up and nodded. To the cheers of the Earthforce officers, he conceded the game and walked over to Susan side. "I would have won," he said confidently as he joined her. "Another ten moves at the most."

Susan nodded, and had no doubt that he was telling the truth. "Sorry to take you away from your game doctor, but I have something important I need you to do tomorrow and I want you rested."

Kozlowski nodded and was about to reply when he noticed Talia walked slowly over to join them. So instead he kept his mouth shut and slipped the data crystal he had been about to give Susan back into his pocket, where it rest up against the strange sphere, whose function he was still trying to decipher. She didn't notice, her eyes instead focused on Talia.

"If we are all here then we should get on our way to the shuttle," Susan said, turning away from the telepath and walking briskly out of the room. The Major and Kozlowski followed closely after her, but Talia paused for a minute to allow a smile to come to her face. She glanced over at the Earthforce officers who were beginning another game.

"I would watch out if I were you," she said, pointing towards one of the new competitors, "He cheats." Then, making sure they saw the Psi-Corp badge pinned to her dress, she walked out of the room after the others, almost laughing aloud at the way it was so easy to manipulate the minds of normals. Behind her, the sound of an argument broke out, which only made her smile grow wider.

* * *

**20:48, February 5, 2262.**

The early morning desert stillness was broken suddenly by the throaty roar of powerful engines in the distance. Only one specimen of the native wildlife was about this early in the morning. It was large lizard about as long as a man's leg, and was known to the people of Proxima as a Gonna. The lizard looked up from the pool of water it had been drinking from as the noise of the engine reached it. Far off, but approaching quickly, it could see a three bright beams of light that cut through the semi-darkness like a knife. Frightened, the lizard scurried off to hide beneath the wonderful new home it had found during its nightly wanderings. Then, well hidden and safe, it poked its stalk-like eyes out to see what new monster was coming.

The monster in question turned out to be a massive beast made of similar material to it's new home. This new beast moved though, and the lizard could see its strange legs churning underneath it, throwing up sand in all directions. It came to a stop near the lizard's home, towering over it. The lizard hissed loudly in warning, but the beast did not seem to notice. Instead a mouth filled with light opened in it's side and two strange creatures climbed down onto the sands below.

The lizard watched as the first of the creatures pulled out a long, metal stick and poked it into the ground near his home. Before the lizard had a chance to wonder what these creatures were, what the stick was, or why they were here, it felt a sudden shock of pain pass through it. To stupid to run it just sat there and watched as the electric charge tore through its body and cooked it's tiny brain.

* * *

"Hey Moshi," Spike Richards called out to his partner. "Looks like we got ourselves a Gonna." He held up the slightly charred body of the lizard and waved it about happily, his mind already imagining the breakfast the lizard would make.

"Great," the other prospector replied. "Toss it in the back and we can cook it up later. I will just let off one more charge to make sure there are no worms around here and we can load this wreck on the back and get back and collect our pay."

Spike nodded and tossed the still smoking lizard into the back of the main cabin of the huge crawler. He and Moshi were one of the few prospectors left on Proxima, most of the mining companies now using cheap satellite technology to locate mineral deposits. Of course, no matter how good a satellite was it would never find everything, which is where the prospectors came in. Unfortunately, over the years the pickings had dropped off, so when the government had called and put out a call for someone to head out into the desert and pick up the wreckage of the crashed fighter, they had jumped at the chance and sped off into the night.

The two old prospectors had taken a chance and set out while it was still dark, hoping to beat the other crawlers to the site. Of course, this meant that they had to deal with the planets nightlife, including the dangerous Tooth Worm, which was a nasty predator that resembled a long earthworm with a sharp toothed mouth at either end of it's flexible body. It sensed the vibrations of anything walking on the surface and a pack of them could devour a man in a few minutes. Fortunately for the other creatures of Proxima, it kept to the sands where it could easily burrow through the loose material. Unfortunately for the prospectors, the sandy desert east of Gorbachev Dome was where they were right now.

Spike and Moshi had one of the new electrical charge generators though, as well as some good insulation on their feet and throughout their crawler. The devices send out a pulse of energy that travelled through the sand and rock in all directions for about fifty metres, frying the nervous systems of anything living. They were costly, but compared to the alternative, a very good investment. Most of the crawlers were equipped with them now, as no one really wanted to be caught out at night and eaten alive just because they wanted to save a few credits.

Another loud crack sounded across the desert as Moshi set off the second charge. This time nothing was found, not even another Gonna, the rather stupid, but common lizards that were found across the planet. No one knew exactly what they ate, but they seemed to breed like rabbits. They were good eating, although it was something of an acquired taste that had never really caught on offworld. The people of Proxima didn't mind though, and the lizard was one of the few forms of fresh meat available on the Planet, except for the artificial meat product that came out of the protein farms of course.

"The area seems clear enough for now," Moshi said as he came over to stand next to the crashed fighter. Looking down at the wreckage, he asked, "So what the hell do you think this is."

"I don't know," Spike replied. "But by the money the President is offering for its speedy return, it must be something important. If it weren't valuable, they wouldn't be paying us to pick it up, they would have just sent out one of their own crawlers."

Moshi knelt down and poked at the wreckage. "There doesn't seem to be a lot of damage," he said.

"What do you think happened to the pilot?" Spike asked as he turned on the hand spotlight he alway carried hanging from his belt. "They did warn us to look out for a pilot who might be roaming around here somewhere. Have you seen anyone around?"

Moshi scratched his greying beard and shrugged. "I didn't see any tracks. If you ask me, he is still inside, assuming there is a pilot of course. There doesn't look like there is much room."

"Do you want to have a look," Spike asked, shining the light over the hull of the fighter. Spying something interesting, he focused the light on that particular spot. "Look, there is a hatch, maybe we should open it up take a look."

Moshi followed the beam of light and saw what his partner was pointing out. "Ok Spike," he replied. "Keep the light steady and I will see if we can't get this thing open." The prospector shuffled over to the hatch and pulled an old fashioned screwdriver out of his tool belt.

"Don't tell me you are still using that old thing," Spike teased, just as he did every time Moshi insisted on using the old tool.

"Could never do without it," Moshi replied, jamming the screwdriver into what looked like the clasp for the hatch and twisting it upwards.

To the surprise of them both, the hatch opened smoothly and easily, exposing the interior of the fighter. Eager to discover what lay within, Spike hurried forward and shone his light into the exposed cavity. Instead of the expected cockpit and controls, there was a mass of electronics and wires.

"Wow," Spike said in amazement. "It looks like some sort of machine. Look that there is probably some sort of fancy central computer." He pointed at the large cluster of electronic chips and circuit boards that seemed to form the heart of the machine.

"Well I don't think we should mess about with it," Moshi said firmly, closing the hatch again. "At least not if we want the full payment. You go and start up the crane, while I go and radio the city to tell them we found their ship."

Spike nodded and went around to the back of the crawler, opening the panel that activated the crane. The heavy crane was usually used for lifting samples of ore to take back to the labs for testing, but it's motor could lift the small fighter just as well. Spike manoeuvred it into position above the fighter, while in the cabin Moshi switched on the communications system, sending the news of their find in to Gorbachev Dome.

Barely ten minutes later they were on their way back to the city, their crawler now hauling a surprisingly light fighter on the tray behind the main cabin.

* * *


	20. Chapter 20

* * *

Susan yawned as she picked up her cup of coffee and breakfast from the dining room and headed back to her office. Commander Petrov and Lieutenant-Commander Schmitt were both already present and waiting for her. Susan was expecting them, having called a meeting for this morning, but hadn't wanted to miss out on her breakfast. Eying the plate on the tray, she was a little suspicious of what looked like scrambled eggs. It was supposed to be made from some local lizard egg that President Mitrovic had sent a number of up to each of the destroyers in appreciation of their efforts in defending Proxima.

"Is this stuff edible?" she asked Petrov as she took a seat at her desk, placing her tray in front of her.

"Very tasty actually Captain," he replied. "I thought it was anyway. I know the rest of the crew were looking around for more as well. After all, it is rare that we get fresh food on a warship."

Susan didn't look convinced. In her mind eggs came from chickens, not strange alien lizards, especially if they were anything like the lizards she had seen yesterday. Despite her misgivings though, she still took a small bite and to her surprise found that the Commander was not wrong in his judgement and the scrambled eggs were very good idea, a little peculiar in taste, but not unpleasant at all. Certainly, it was better than the usual slop they served in the dining room.

"Well what is on the agenda today?" Susan asked, putting down her fork for a moment.

Petrov looked through a list on his data pad. "Well we have to get to work on repairing the fighters that were damaged yesterday. We also have to organise where to put the five new pilots that transferred over from the Odysseus. As you know, their flight deck badly damaged, so the twenty fighters that survived the battle will be spread around to replace losses on other ships, including our own. Then someone needs to write letters to the families of those who died."

"I will take care of that Captain," Alister Schmitt spoke up from his seat near the door. "They were my pilots after all."

"Thank you Mr. Schmitt," Susan nodded in thanks. She was about to turn back to Petrov when her link beeped. "What is it," she asked.

"President Mitrovic on the com from Proxima Captain," the voice at the other end replied.

"Oh ok. Put him through to my office then."

"Yes Captain."

The screen of her computer blinked with an incoming message, which she immediately accepted. The normal display was then quickly replaced by the round face of the President, still looking as nervous and worried as he had the previous night.

"Captain Ivanova," he said. "I just though you would like to know that we have found the fighter you shot down. One of the crawlers from the dome made it there early this morning and are already on their way back to Gorbachev."

Susan look pleased, if a little surprised that nothing had eaten it during the night. Joe, the mechanic who had given her a lift into Gorbachev the previous night had spent the whole journey informing her about the nature of the dangerous wildlife of Proxima. "Is it still intact," she asked.

"Yes it is. The owners of the crawler also reported that it was a drone fighter after all." He paused for a moment, looking unsure of what to say next. "Anyway I just though you would want to know Captain," he continued.

"Thank you Mr. President," Susan replied. "I will send Dr. Kozlowski down to help your technicians pull it apart. I for one am certainly looking forward to what is inside that thing." Mitrovic nodded and shut off the link from his end. Susan turned back to the two officers sitting opposite her. "Well what do you think of that?" she asked.

"There is no way those things are drones," Alister said firmly. "They were fighting almost as well as our own fighters."

"I would have to agree," Susan said, taking a sip of her drink before continuing. "That one I chased down over the desert certainly did not fight like a machine, and I haven't heard of any computer system that could duplicate what a fighter pilot goes through in battle yet."

"Neither have I," Alister agreed. "Otherwise we would all be using robot fighters instead of risking their pilot's lives. The Narn, Minbari, and even the Centauri all use live pilots. If none of them have been able to come up with a suitable system to run a fighter by now then I don't see why one should appear suddenly now."

"It could be some new system," Petrov offered. "Something a new alien race has come up with."

"From what I saw the ships looked Earth made," Susan said with a frown. "I guess we will have to wait and see what they come up with when they pull the fighter apart. Which reminds me, I should go and tell Dr. Kozlowski that he is needed."

"Do you want me to do that Captain," Petrov offered.

"No I will take care of it," She replied. "Both of you have other things to work on this morning. One last thing, try to ensure that no one else knows about Kozlowski examining the fighter, just in case. I know we can't rely on the civilians on Proxima to keep it quiet for long, but I would like to give the doctor a chance to see what he can find before the press and everyone else moves in."

"Yes Captain," Petrov said, getting to his feet. "With your permission I will get back to work."

Susan waved for him to depart. After a quick salute, Lieutenant-Commander Schmitt also followed the Commander out of the room. She leaned back against her chair and picked up the plate of eggs again. Taking another forkful, she decided that the lizard eggs were rather nice indeed. Organising Kozlowski trip down to Proxima would have to wait until after breakfast.

* * *

This was the first time Susan had been anywhere near Kozlowski's quarters, in fact only the third time she had been down to engineering since she had been on board the Rasputin. The still brand new warship was as clean in engineering as it was everywhere else, but somehow Dr. Kozlowski's quarters seemed to defy the trend. Even outside there were piles of junk, mainly empty crates and other packaging by the looks of it. Susan shook her head; amazed that one person could cause so much disruption, and raised her hand to knock on the door.

After knocking Susan had to wait nearly a full minute for the door to open, all the while the sounds of frantic movement came from within, along with the occasional bang or crash. Eventually though the door was opened, just wide enough to allow the balding head of Nathan Kozlowski to be poked out to see who was knocking.

"Captain," he said spying her standing calmly across the hallway from his door. "I didn't expect to see you down here, do come in."

With that invitation, the doctor opened the door wide enough to allow her entry into his quarters. She accepted and walked into something that reminded her vaguely of a cross between a storeroom and a junkyard. A fish tank with a slightly overweight, goldfish was perched precariously on one rickety looking shelf, right next to what appeared to be a small mobile fusion reactor, something the doctor certainly should not have lying around his room. In the centre of all this chaos was a large wooden desk, looking quite out of place among the collection of hi-tech parts that was piled high on the shelves.

Eyeing the desk, Susan noticed that It had been badly damaged quite recently, with a large burn mark across half its surface, and several more scars and blemishes. There was also an object sitting on the centre of the desk that had been covered up with a rag, and she noticed two packing crates on the far side of the room the doctor had covered up with what appeared to be a blanket from his bed. Although she was suspicious of just what sort of experiments Kozlowski was carrying out in his quarters, Susan waited until the doctor was seated before informing him of the reason of her visit. "As I said last night doctor I have a job for you this morning." After he nodded, remembering their brief conversation in the government building on Proxima she continued. "The authorities on Proxima have just dragged in that fighter I shot down over the desert, and I was wondering if you wouldn't mind going down and helping them out while they try and find out where it came from, and what makes it tick."

"Not at all captain," Kozlowski replied, quickly gathering together a small pile of tools from one of the covered crates and shoving them into a large leather bag he pulled out down from one of the shelves.

"Good," Susan said. "But remember you are going to be working for the Proxima authorities."

"Of course," he replied, ushering Susan out of the door and shutting it behind them. "I wouldn't dream of usurping their authority."

Susan nodded, somewhat assured that he understood the situation. "Then you had better get moving. I have a shuttle being prepared. Remember to call back as soon as you find anything interesting."

As soon as Susan had dismissed him, the doctor headed off down the hallway towards the shuttle bay. He had only gone about ten metres though when he turned back and called out to her. "I have that information you asked for Captain. I will give it too you when I get back." Then he was gone again, hurrying off down the corridor towards the nearest lift.

Susan stared after him, wondering what information he was talking about this time. She certainly hadn't remembered asking any research to be done, and if she couldn't remember it then it didn't happen. Shrugging she dismissed the whole thing as just another of Dr. Kozlowski's eccentricities, and reminded herself how glad she was that he was going to off the ship for the next day or so.

* * *

Anderson watched carefully as the doctor and two crewmen walked past him. After a quick surface scan of their minds to make certain they were not looking for him, and another check to ensure no one was looking in his direction, he slipped into his shuttle. Secure inside his shuttle, he tapped into the Rasputin's communications system once more and opened a channel to the city of Xanthe Terra on Mars. As soon as the connection was made he typed in the code that bypassed the security systems on Mars and connected him directly to the apartment of Harvey Kiel.

The Psi-Cop's tired face soon confronted him, and he realised that it must still be night on Mars. "Sorry to wake you Sir," Anderson apologised. "I have just finished going over the final report of the attack."

"Did it go as well as the carrier captain reported?" Kiel asked, the tiredness disappearing from his face, replaced instead with intense interest.

"I think you will be pleased with the results, Sir. Twenty-eight Earthforce fighters destroyed, as well as severe damage to one of the Omega destroyers. Given that the test only used such a small force compared to what we have planned for the final weapon it was a resounding success."

Kiel nodded, pleased. "That is good news, much more than we expected for a first test. Did any of our fighters survive?"

"Not that I am aware of. One hundred and twenty nine were reported destroyed by my sensors, while the last one I believe crashed into the desert on Proxima somewhere."

"Intact?" Kiel asked his voice still calm, but even without being able to hear his thoughts, Anderson knew his superior was worried.

"I don't believe so sir. I haven't heard anything about a captured fighter on the reports I have read so far. I believe that it was destroyed by a Earthforce fighter that followed it down, interestingly it was Captain Ivanova who was piloting that particular fighter."

"Well if there is nothing left to do there I want you at A3 as soon as possible, the builders want to analyse your data as soon as possible so the software can be updated in time for the second test."

"Very good sir," Anderson said. "I will give my excuses to Captain Ivanova and leave as soon as I can." He paused for a moment as he considered something. "One last thing sir, I was wondering if it would be alright to bring my assistant along. She is working out better than I thought and she may prove useful for us later on. Her telekinetic abilities are quite powerful from what she has been showing me, and she could be useful as a bodyguard in the future."

Kiel considered his request for a moment before shaking his head. "No, leave her on the Rasputin. The fewer people who know about this the better. Besides, I am not sure if she can be trusted with all the details of the plan."

"As you wish sir," Anderson said. "I will see you in a few days then."

Kiel nodded, closing down the link from his end. Anderson sighed, it would have been nice to keep Ms. Winters as his assistant, but Kiel was right. After all, she could be a plant sent by Bester or one of the other high-ranking telepaths. Whatever they had done to her during her time in the research division, there was now no way to scan the woman's mind deeply, most unusual considering she was only a P5.

Still Anderson smiled to himself as he realised that although he wouldn't have Ms. Winter's services, Ivanova would. Given the way the Captain had reacted to her presence so far, he almost wished he were sticking around to see what happened. Of course, if he did then he would have to miss the next test, and there was no way he wanted to do that, it should prove to be quite spectacular indeed.

* * *

As soon as the image of his assistant had faded from the screen Harvey Kiel got to his feet and turned around, facing the other communication system in his room. As before he switched it on by pressing the organic protrusion jutting out near the bottom, waiting only moments before the hologram of his alien ally appeared in the room.

"It is done?" the creature asked, again its voice whispered to him.

"It is," Kiel said with a low bow. "And it was even more successful that we could have hoped. The fighters were destroyed, but they damaged one Earthforce destroyer and destroyed many of the enemy's fighters."

"The Entire are pleased with this report," was the reply.

Kiel couldn't tell exactly what emotions the creature felt, its head and most of its body still covered by the same dark cloak it had worn every time he had seen it. "What will be out next move," he asked, a little impatiently.

The alien did not even have to pause for thought before replying. "Come at once to the building site. We must be ready to proceed with the next test soon, before our enemies learn of our plans. Bring the data from the first test so we can adjust the programs on the fighters."

It is already on the way," Kiel cut in. "My assistant is bringing it to you personally as soon as he leaves Proxima."

"Good," the alien replied. "You must also come soon. You must be on the weapon when we are ready to test it."

Kiel nodded. "I would not want to miss that test," he said. "I will organise a shuttle to take myself and the rest of the team here on Mars to A3 before the end of the week."

"That is already done," was the swift reply. "You leave in ten of your Earth hours time. Be ready then."

"But..." he stuttered out.

"No argument," the alien ordered, it's voice rising slightly. "Be ready to depart then."

"I will," Kiel said, bowing again so his ally could not see the hatred that was plainly visible in his eyes. When he looked up the alien was gone, having shut off his transmitter before Kiel could argue again. The Psi-Cop was visibly annoyed at the development, especially considering the way the alien had ordered him about. After all, he had been one of President Clark's chief advisers. He had helped run the Clark administration, and was not some lackey to be ordered around by an alien, especially as he was supposed to be the creature's ally, not its servant.

Slamming his hand down on the control that shut off the transmitter, he hurried out of the room to pack. Ten hours was not a long time, and he did not want to leave anything behind that might be useful during the battles that were to come or anything that might allow his enemies here on Mars to trace his journey. The thought of the plan soon bought a smile to his face as he imagined Sheridan and his allies begging to surrender to him. In his mind, he could already see the day when the entire galaxy bowed to him. Then he wouldn't need any alien allies any more, and they, like the rest of his opponents, would be suffering most tragic accidents.

* * *

Alfred Bester looked out over the barren landscape of Mars from the large glass window in his office. Outwardly, he looked calm, as if contemplating what he was viewing, but inside his head, his mind was always busy. Right now he was scanning the surface thoughts of everyone within range of his office, not that he suspected them of anything, but rather just because he could. It was a good way of checking up on those who worked under him, making sure they were using their time for the benefit of the Corp.

Already he had discovered two telepaths in a closet who certainly were not busy working in the best interests of Psi-Corp, but disciplining them could wait until later. Right now, the person he had been waiting for had just entered the building. A P12 like him, she was his current aide, and together they looked after almost all of Psi-Corp's current activities on Mars. Bester felt the urgency in her mind, and recognised that she had something important to report. In the interest of saving time, he sent a quick message telepathically. _'Come to my office as soon as possible Ms. Chang.'_

The other Psi-Cop's mind registered surprise as Bester's thoughts broke through the blocks she had painstakingly erected to prevent others scanning her. A normal telepath, even a P12 would not have been able get through so easily, but then very little Bester did was ever ordinary. Sarah Chang's surprise did not last long though, and she sent a quick response saying she was on her way, and sure enough a little more than a minute later the door opened and the attractive Asian woman walked into the office. As she arrived, Bester took his seat behind the large wooden desk.

Bester waved in the direction of the padded seat in front of his desk. _'Sit down Ms. Chang,'_ he ordered. She quickly complied and once she was comfortable he asked, _'what brings you here today. I was quite surprise when you sent word that you wished to meet, especially since I thought you were busy with the operation we set up to watch the renegade Kiel and his associates.'_

She nodded. _'That is why I am here Sir. Kiel is gone.'_

Bester remained calm, but inside she could feel anger rising. ' _Where has he gone?'_ he asked.

_'I do not know Sir. He left this afternoon with several bags. I had a team sweep his apartment afterwards and they were unable to find anything, even his communications system was clean.'_

Bester leaned back and looked straight at Sarah. She squirmed uncomfortably in his gaze, and knew that despite her rating she would not be able to stop him scanning her if he really wanted to, and she knew from past experience that deep scans hurt. He didn't though, and instead he just stared at her for a few minutes before replying, again telepathically. _'How did he leave? Was it a private shuttle, or a commercial transport.'_

 _'Private shuttle Sir,'_ she replied. _'It was an unmarked shuttle with no registration or ident code. It landed at the Dome, he and several others unknown to me boarded and then it took off again. We were unable to track it any further though.'_

 _'Why was that,'_ Bester asked, cutting off her narrative.

_'I do not know, Sir. For some reason the shuttle did not show up on our scanners. Unfortunately, we didn't have our own shuttle within range, so he managed to escape. One member of my team suggested it may have had a stealth system running.'_

Bester thought for a moment, while Sarah sat and watched with her green eyes trained firmly on the Psi-Cop. She knew that if she tried hard enough she would just be able to hear what he was thinking, but with all the rumours she had heard about Bester, she knew she didn't really want to see exactly what was going on inside his head right now. Instead, she concentrated on her own thoughts, thinking about anything but her boss.

Eventually Bester replied. _'What about his lieutenant, Anderson I believe his name is, was he among those who boarded this shuttle?'_

_'He left Mars several days ago, and is currently assigned to the EAS Rasputin as a military observer. He did visit Kiel several times before he left though. We were unable to bug Kiel's apartment to record any conversations, but anyway it is likely that they spoke telepathically.'_

Bester leant back in his chair again and looked contemplative. _'The Rasputin, that is the new Warlock destroyer under the command of Captain Ivanova isn't it?'_ he asked.

Sarah nodded. _'Yes that is correct sir. It was commissioned only a few days ago and is currently assigned to protect the Proxima system. Mr. Anderson has been assigned to the ship during its test phase. I believe he assignment is to examine crew reactions to the new vessel, fairly standard sort of stuff.'_

Bester stood up and walked to the window, looking out over the rough surface of mars for several seconds before replying. _'What is he doing there. Kiel has no operatives on Proxima, at least none that I know of. Why would his lieutenant be there?"_

_'I do not know Sir. Anderson took an assistant with him as well, a Ms. Winters.'_

Bester spun around and stared at his aide. _'Talia Winters?'_ he asked.

 _'I believe that was her full name,'_ Sarah replied. _'She is a P5, who was attached to our research division here on Mars until just recently. The telekinesis department I believe.'_

Bester didn't reply, but a slow smile spread across his face. A little concerned, especially seeing how rare it was to see the Psi-Cop to smile, Sarah sent a quick question into his mind. _'Would you like me to authorise an agent be sent to see what he is up to?'_

 _'There is no need,'_ was Bester's telepathic reply. _'One of my deep cover agents is already aboard the Rasputin. I will contact her and get her to watch Anderson and Ms. Winters closely.'_

 _'I see Sir,'_ Sarah said, a little annoyed with herself for not checking first. _'What is it you would like me to do then?'_

_'Travel back to_ _Xanthe Terra_ _and see if you can't find out what has happened to Kiel. I know that two of his agents have died in the past few days, so maybe there is an assassin after him. Find out for sure, and don't return until you have discovered his location.'_

_'Yes Sir,'_ was his aide's enthusiastic reply. As soon as she had left the room, Bester returned to his contemplation. Something was definitely happening, and what's more, it was happening right under his nose, which was not a pleasing thought. Mars had always been Bester's domain and now the renegade Kiel was interfering with the normal running of that domain. Unfortunately, Kiel still had enough support within Psi-Corp that Bester couldn't move against him openly without jeopardising his own position and standing. He had been one of those who opposed the Psi-Corp's continued protection of Kiel and his co-conspirators, knowing that it was unlikely that the renegades had given up their plans. It was not that Bester didn't have the same plans; it was just that unlike Kiel, he had always favoured more peaceful means. It led to less mess in the end.

Still little could be done about Kiel as long as he was still getting strong support from the Psi-Corp leadership. In fact, he almost hoped that an assassin had killed Kiel, and by doing do conveniently swept the whole, sorry affair under the table, but that would probably be too much to hope for. Making a mental note to contact his agent on the Rasputin tonight, Bester resumed his seat and got back down to work. These days there always seemed to be work for a Psi-Cop to do.

* * *

The afternoon had been slow for Susan as she had gone about the normal activities of a destroyer captain, which from her limited experience seemed mainly to involve sitting around on the bridge while various members of the crew bought her decisions they probably could have made just as well themselves. Perhaps it was just the anticipation of learning what the technicians and scientists busy pulling apart the small fighter in a hanger near Gorbachev Dome would find that was making her feel this way, but for some reason Susan felt bored.

On Babylon 5, she had never been bored, although there had been moments when she had wished for just such a day as this, time to herself when she could just sit and contemplate the universe. Unfortunately, the universe she had to contemplate had grown a lot less friendly over the past few months and Susan ached for something to keep her busy. She wanted something to take her mind off the thoughts that filled her head every time that she was left alone.

Instead, apart from a couple of short meetings in the morning the only important thing she had been asked to do was to look over the letters Lieutenant-Commander Schmitt had written to the families of those killed in the battle. After adding her own brief comments she had passed back the data pad and been left to wonder exactly who or what had been responsible for their deaths. There had been no reason, at least that she could see, for the raider's attack. They had achieved little damage, unless their only aim was to kill Earthforce pilots, and gained no booty from the attack.

Sighing, she leant back as far as her chair could go and watched the stars slowly rotate above her on the holographic display. She didn't find any answers there but at least it was relaxing, so relaxing in fact that she didn't notice the telepath Anderson until he was standing right next to her. Straightening up, although still trying to keep as comfortable as possible Susan looked over at Anderson with a frown, hoping to encourage him to leave.

When he didn't move she sighed and asked, "what do you want Mr. Anderson."

"I just came to inform you Captain that I am needed urgently back on Mars."

"What for," she asked suspiciously, hoping that it had nothing to do with her.

"There has been an accident at one of our bases," he informed her. "I am afraid a good friend of mine has been badly injured and I would like to be by her side to make sure she recovers."

Susan almost felt genuine sympathy for the telepath then. Despite what she might think about the Psi-Corp, she didn't actually hate telepaths. In fact, recent relationships with two telepaths in particular had certainly not been ones of hatred. She had even grown to love Talia over time, and despite Lyta's involvement in what had happened to Talia she had eventually forgiven the redheaded woman. She could never like Lyta, but at least had grown to tolerate her… eventually. Susan didn't really even know Anderson, and despite the fact she still wouldn't trust him any more than other telepaths loyal to Psi-Corp she didn't hate him.

"I am sorry to hear that Mr. Anderson," she said. "Will you be gone long?"

"I do not know Captain," he replied. "I may be gone for several weeks."

"I am sure we will miss you," Susan said, although in her heart she knew she for one would not. She mightn't hate the telepath, but that didn't mean she wanted him around any more than any other telepath. "And your assistant, Ms. Winters? Will she be travelling with you?"

"No, there is no need for her to go as well. She will remain and continue the work I had started. After all, our mission was initially to test how everyone on board the Rasputin was coping with the new vessel and that job hasn't even been started. She can carry it out just as well as I can, at least until I get back."

Susan wasn't sure if she was pleased or upset about that news. Certainly, she wanted to see more of Talia. However, it was the old Talia she wanted to see, not the creature that Psi-Corp had put inside Talia's mind. Still, despite what everyone else, including Talia herself, had said over the years, Susan couldn't help but think that maybe, just maybe, there was still a part of the old Talia left, and if she walked away this time then she would definitely never see her again.

She was about to reply to Anderson when the voice of the communication officer, Lieutenant Heneker, cut into their conversation. "Captain I have Dr. Kozlowski on the link for you," the lieutenant said.

"Put him through," Susan said at once, her mind quickly focusing back onto the battle of yesterday, and her eagerness for news. As soon as the connection was made she asked, "what news doctor?"

Kozlowski voice sounded a little faint, which probably meant he was a greater than normal distance from the link. "I have found something very interesting Captain, very interesting indeed. I think you should come and see at once."

"I will be right there doctor," Susan said, closing down the link to Proxima. She turned around to make her excuses to Anderson, but the telepath had already vanished. Susan barely even noticed, instead she leapt up from her seat and left the bridge, hurrying towards the shuttle bay.

* * *

It was around midday over Gorbachev Dome by the time Susan's landed at the nearby shuttle port. As she walked across toward the hanger where the doctor and the other technicians had been assigned space for their work, she looked around at the warm landscape of Proxima, for the first time seeing it during the day. Everyone other time she landed, it had been nearing sunset, the sun had just dipped below the horizon, or the ground was flying past too fast for her to see it properly, so this was something of a new experience for her.

During the day, it was a completely different world than the night. For one thing, it was a lot warmer, so much so that Susan felt herself begin to sweat, not as bad as she had in her flight suit though. The sun beat down through the thin atmosphere, which although it was thick enough to provide oxygen to the people of the colony it lacked much in the way of moisture, and that meant no clouds for the sun to hide behind. In short, it was a perfect desert climate, no rain and hot sunny days followed by cold, almost freezing nights.

Right now, all Susan wanted to do was get out of the sun before it cooked her. Walking quickly, she crossed the short distance from her shuttle to the hanger where the crashed fighter was being examined. Two other atmospheric shuttles sat near the entrance, resting on the hard surface of the landing strip. She didn't know what material the landing strip was made of, but it certainly seemed to reflect the sunlight, making conditions even more unpleasant.

Inside the hanger though, it was a completely different environment. Two large fans built into the ceiling sucked away the hot air, while beneath the surface of the floor cooling units replaced the hot air with cold, leaving the whole building cool and refreshing.

At least that was the idea. Susan immediately noticed the difference in temperature, but she also quickly noticed the slightly sickly smell of some unknown chemical. The smell of burnt rubber, and charred electronics soon followed, all contributing to a stench that left Susan feeling a little woozy. She was not the only one effected either. Close to the door, where the smell was weakest, Susan noticed that a small collection of technicians had gathered around a table playing a game of cards.

For a moment Susan was about to walk over and ask them what was going on, but then she spotted the crashed fighter, it's pieces scattered across the floor of the hanger. Piles of electronics were heaped up on tables around it, and Susan could just faintly hear the sounds of two people talking from somewhere beneath the fighter. On one table, a burner had been set up underneath a metal container and it was from this area that the acrid chemical smell was coming. Gritting her teeth, and trying to shut down her sense of smell, she strode across towards the fighter.

As she drew closer she recognised the sound of Dr. Kozlowski's voice coming from somewhere inside the gutted fighter, along with the voice of another man she didn't recognise. "Dr. Kozlowski," she called out. There was no answer, but a few seconds later a blackened chunk of metal came flying out from underneath the fighter and landed near her feet, making her jump aside in a hurry. "Dr. Kozlowski," she called again, this time much louder, and a lot more annoyed.

Two heads popped up out from underneath the fighter. One was Kozlowski's head while the other was hidden behind a bushy beard that hid the face almost completely. "Captain," the doctor said, seeing her waiting impatiently near the front of the fighter. "Wait there I will be right with you." Then both the heads retreated beneath the fighter once again.

Sure enough nearly two minutes later he climbed out of the fighter's innards and walked over to where the Captain waited. Before he opened his mouth to speak though, he suddenly sniffed, as if noticing the chemical smell in the air for the first time. Looking over at the table where the burner was set up, the doctor let out a gasp and hurried over to switch off the energy to the burner, and slam a lid down on the container. After burning a finger on the hot metal container, he left it alone to cool down and made his way back to Susan's side, sucking on the burnt finger.

"Was that important," she asked, indicating the container, still hanging above the now silent burner.

"Just an experiment," Kozlowski replied. "We wanted to see to test the melting point of some of the material used for the fighter's circuits. I forgot it was running though so it has been ruined now and we will have to start all over again."

"Well next time I suggest you do it outside doctor," Susan said, waving her hand in front of her face to indicate the still lingering stench that hung in the air, although it was slowly being swept away by the fans that whirred high above them. "Now what was it that was so important that you had to call me down here?"

The doctor pointed towards one of the tables that were stacked high with electronic circuit boards that had been pulled out of the fighter. "Over here Captain," he said. "We managed to find out how this thing runs."

He quickly led the way across to the table and pulled out a large chunk of circuit board, covered with a mass of chips, all arranged around what looked like a large data crystal. "This is the heart of the whole system," he informed her, handing the slightly burnt circuits over to Susan. "It is an AI system as we thought, but it is a lot better than anything that I have ever seen before." He pointed to the large crystal. "That is a Centauri-made data crystal, you can tell because it is much more angular that the Minbari ones most races use. It holds the key to the whole operation."

"Why is that," Susan asked. "I thought a data crystal only held data, hence the name."

Kozlowski nodded. "Essentially that is true, Captain. However, they can also store computer programs, even the operating systems for semi-AI hardware, anything that requires a store of data to operate may make use of a data crystal. Although this particular one has only data stored, it is the type of data though that is important. That crystal, at least from what I have been able to decipher so far, has been programmed with the fighting styles of over a thousand different human and alien pilots. In a combat situation, the fighter's AI operating system not only uses these tactics to fight with, but can also use the data to combat a number of classic enemy tactics. It really is a very ingenious system."

"And this makes it fight nearly as well as a human pilot?" queried Susan, the scepticism plainly evident in her voice.

"That is correct captain, well that and the program itself. Unfortunately, most of the program was wiped when the plasma bolt from your fighter tore through the central computer. That has prevented us from deciphering most of the system, but based on what we have recovered we have managed to work out how we think it might have worked. Given time, say maybe three months or so we might even be able to recover the rest of the system and rebuild the whole fighter."

"That is all very well doctor," Susan said. "But I am less concerned about how it works, and more in who it works for. Have you managed to find anything out about that? Do you know which race built it yet?"

"Oh that was easy Captain," Kozlowski said with a laugh, dragging her over to another pile of ruined circuits. He pointed towards an emblem carved into one of the circuits. "There, do you see that?" When she nodded, he continued. "That is the symbol of Mircotel. They make the electronics for almost all of Earth's ships. I recognised that circuit almost immediately. It is one of a batch of experimental control circuits we were offered as part of the Mircotel bid for the Warlock class."

"Does that mean the fighter was made by humans?" Susan asked.

"Most definitely, although how they got their hands on this system I do not know. As I said, it was part of the Microtel bid for the warlock project and when they failed to convince us their system was suitable, everything related to the project was supposed to be scrapped."

"Well someone obviously rescued it from the scrap heap," Susan said. "Is there any way you can discover who built the rest of the fighter?"

Kozlowski shook his head. "Not really Captain. I mean all the circuits are obviously made by Microtel, but then so are the circuits on almost every Earthforce vessel, civilian transport, and even raider craft. In fact, as far as I know the Warlock class are the first vessels in a long, long time to be built using completely original dedicated control circuits."

"Why is that," Susan asked.

"Well the system they put forward had too many flaws and bugs, and it didn't match what we wanted for the Warlocks. I had a team of programmers and designers design a completely new computer system for the project, one that could handle the load the new technology we were using. The Microtel circuits just didn't match the technology. You must have noticed the difference between the systems on the Rasputin, and those on other ships you have served on."

Susan nodded. "I did notice that they were a lot less intuitive. The message system isn't voice controlled for example."

"That right Captain," Kozlowski said, pleased. "But beneath that the computers are now running considerable faster. We just couldn't risk using the system Microtel offered us with the split second energy transfer decision needed on the Warlock destroyers, otherwise you could end up not having enough energy to maintain all the necessary systems. It would take me a long time to explain all the details, but rest assured the system we have now is at least twice as fast, and maybe ten times more efficient that the one we were originally offered."

"Well I am certainly pleased to hear that doctor," Susan said turning back to look at the fighter. "Is there anything else you can tell me? Anything about the stealth system, or maybe the engines?"

The doctor looked over at the fighter. "Well the stealth system is actually a jammer that effects Earthforce tracking systems. It isn't that complex a system, but it does mean that whoever built this fighter had significant access to Earthforce technical data. I would think that with some basic tweaking of the Starfury scanners the stealth system could be rendered useless. The engines though are another matter all together."

"How so," Susan queried.

"Well I have never seen anything like them. They are definitely alien, although which race I don't know. I have seen Narn, Centauri, and Minbari engines before and these are nothing like any of them. If I was asked to make a comparison with what I knew I would say it is a bit like the Minbari system, a gravitic drive of some kind is my best guess."

"So you think it was built by an alien race then?"

The doctor thought about this question for a moment. "No," he said finally. "I wouldn't say that. Although the engines are unfamiliar, some of the parts look similar to those tooled by companies working on our own ships, and the materials used in their construction are definitely the same. However, their design is certainly not human. It will take use some time to decipher their function, or until we are able to copy them."

"And their weapons?" Susan asked, noticing that the two powerful cannon that had protruded from the front of the fighter were now missing.

Kozlowski led her across to another table where the two cannon were laid out side by side. One had been disassembled and its parts lay scattered across the table. Even to Susan's untrained eye, it looked faintly familiar. "Standard Starfury parts," the doctor told her. "They have been modified slightly to fire a pulse of energy that has a shorter range, but has a greater area of effect. Despite the alterations, they are not a lot better than what our current model fighters use, and are certainly no match for the weapons systems on the Rasputin."

Susan thought about what she had seen for a moment before asking Kozlowski a final question. "What do you think about the fighter as a whole then doctor," she asked. "Is it a real danger? I mean we did lose a lot of our own fighters out there yesterday."

Kozlowski considered her question for a few seconds, slowly tossing the central coil from the cannon from one hand to the other while he thought. "Well I don't really know a lot about fighters Captain," he finally said, and then before she could respond continued, "However given the general abilities of this craft, assuming everything we have uncovered here is correct and there are no hidden systems that we haven't found yet, then I would say that they are dangerous only in large numbers. One on one, a Starfury is more manoeuvrable and has around the same amount of firepower. Also, as you said before, no AI can be a match a living mind, although this system does come close. Two of these fighters up against a single Starfury would be enough to swing the odds in their favour though."

"Unfortunately whoever is making these things seems to want to use them in large numbers," Susan replied. "I am going to have to make a report to Earthforce over this incident, is there anything else that you can tell me?"

"Only that we were extremely lucky to get hold over even this damaged fighter," Kozlowski replied.

"Why is that?"

The doctor pointed towards a large bulky shape sitting on a table near the back of the fighter. "That is the fusion reactor," he informed her. "It was rigged with an explosive charge that was supposed to detonate whenever the system detected it was too damaged to continue flying, or whenever the computer core shuts down. Your shot was in just the right place to take out enough of the computer core to deactivate its flight and fight circuits, but not enough for the explosive charge to register that the entire computer core had been destroyed. Anywhere either side of where you hit it and we would only have a few pieces of wreckage to look at now."

"So you mean that whoever made these fighter did not want them falling into our hands?"

"That's right Captain," Kozlowski replied. Then he looked up at her with a smile on his face. "Interesting fact isn't it."

Susan nodded slowly, turning around to look at the crashed fighter. "Very interesting doctor," she said slowly. "Very interesting indeed."

* * *


	21. Chapter 21

* * *

**15:25, February 11, 2262.**

Darren Anderson leaned back against the padded pilot's seat of his shuttle and watched as the chaos of hyperspace gave way suddenly to normal space and all its glittering canopy of stars. The jumpgate quickly fell behind him he turned his dark-hulled shuttle towards a distant world, just visible on the edge of his sensors. He would have liked to have entered the system closer to his destination, but the captain of the explorer ship who had built the gate had decided otherwise and Anderson was now faced with a four hour long journey from the jumpgate to the planet.

Tucking his hands behind his head Anderson whistled a popular tune while he watched the huge planet growing in his viewscreen. Twice the size of Earth and three times as dense Arisia 3 was not normally the kind of world anyone would expect life to exist. Below, on its hellish surface, the gravity was twice as strong as that on Earth, the atmosphere poisonous, and the soil often radioactive. Volcanic activity constantly erupted across the planet, and the powerful winds carried with them not only dangerous levels of radiation but also much of the heat from the volcanoes.

However, despite all this, until just a couple of years ago a thriving mining colony had mined the planet, using robotic mining machines to tear the rare Quantium-40 mineral out of the rock. The rare mineral was essential to space travel, especially for jumpgate construction, and so its value had been worth the expense of setting up a mining operation on such a inhospitable world. Anderson wondered if it had been worth the lives of all of those who were killed when the planet had been attacked by Kiel's allies.

When this project had been first proposed, several years ago now, Kiel and the others involved had needed an out of the way base to construct their weapon. Arisia 3 was chosen, as it had it's own jumpgate, and was far enough from Earth and the other major worlds not to attract attention. Of course, by then the planet was already occupied, by a small company known as Cole Mining. Kiel's allies had taken care of that though, and quickly cleansed the planet of any unwanted life.

It had taken a while after that before the project could begin, as it was some time before interest in the colony's destruction had died down, but now as he flew slowly towards the huge world Anderson could see the results of all the years of work. In a high orbit, he could see the three vast factories and their accompanying refineries responsible for stripping the ore from the planet and for constructing the weapons and machines they would need. Although he could not see them, Anderson knew that down on the surface a horde of robot miners scoured the planet for useful ore, as well as the valuable Quantium-40.

The factories were bigger than he had expected, huge by the standards of most worlds, but they were nothing to the shape that was just appearing from behind the planet. Nearly ten kilometres long the gigantic warship was the largest thing he had ever seen, larger than the explorer ships, even larger than Babylon 5, which was by far the biggest of Earth's space stations. Had it been just a warship, it would have been an awesome sight, but Anderson knew that it was in fact the galaxy's largest weapon. He had heard rumours that the Vorlon's and some of other now vanished races having possessed similar weapons, there were even rumours about a Vorlon planet killer that was a thousand kilometres long or more. Anderson had never seen those vessels though, so counted them little more than rumours.

From a distance it appeared roughly cylindrical, but as Anderson flew closer he could see it long hull was actually more hexagonal is shape, with six long flat sides instead of a single smooth, rounded hull. Along the main hull were an almost uncountable number of octagonal slots, which he knew was where the fighters would rest when the ship was in transit. Of course, once the warship was deployed for battle, the small fighters would detach and attack any enemy defenders. Like a cloud of insects, they would swoop down on the enemy and destroy it. One on its own might be much of a threat, but a thousand, or ten thousand would destroy almost anything in their path, just like the locusts they had been named after.

Finally, at the far end of the warship, nearly two kilometres in length itself was the massive command section. There the powerful engines were housed, including a jump engine strong enough to allow such an enormous warship access to hyperspace, as well as the reactors to power the engines, a factory to construct replacement fighters, and most important of all the main gravity generators for the weapon itself. Anderson could only look on in amazement as he imagined what a weapon that needed a barrel eight kilometres long could do.

Skilfully avoiding the charred remains of the old mining colony that still floated in orbit around the planet, he turned his shuttle towards the warship, knowing that Kiel probably awaited him there. As he approached two Centauri destroyers slid out from behind the vast bulk of the nearly completed vessel. While big in their own right they were dwarfed by the weapon that hung in space above them. He quickly sent the code that would reassure the beings that controlled the destroyers he was non-hostile. Of course, anyone who did not possess the correct code was automatically considered hostile and destroyed without question.

The destroyers withdrew, continuing their patrol around the planet, allowing Anderson to continue towards the shuttle bay at the rear of the weapon. As he continued he flew alongside the barrel of the huge weapon, he noted that only about half the fighters were currently in place, although he could see many more fighters waiting in orbit near the factories, perhaps deployed for defensive purposes. He also knew that the factories behind him were probably working as quickly as they could, pushing the slaves to breaking point and beyond in their efforts to finish the weapon, and all of it's fighters.

To anyone unfamiliar with the designed of the warship, the huge vessel looked as though it still had considerable work to be down on it, appearing little more than a framework of a vessel. Despite it's appearance though Anderson knew it was, in fact, already complete. There was little need to waste resources building a hull around six huge pylons that formed the weapons barrel, especially when it was not needed. Instead, the builders had left the barrel open to space and used the outer hull as a docking station for the fighters to rest while the warship was in flight.

Anderson continued down the hull, reaching the section where the warship's fighters had already been locking into position. Here the outer hull took on the appearance similar to the scaled hide of a snake or other reptile, with a layer of small fighters already attached to their sockets, ready to leap out and attack at any time. Now they had been tested and he knew what the fighters could do Anderson laughed at the thought of Earthforce trying to stop them. Chuckling softly, he manoeuvred the shuttle around an asteroid that was being sliced up for use in the weapon and into the shuttle bay. There was still a lot of work to do, but soon Earth, and then the rest of the galaxy would feel their power.

* * *

At much the same time as Anderson was arriving at Arisia 3, Susan Ivanova found herself sitting at a dining table in the government building in Reagan Dome, trying her best not to look bored as President Mitrovic and Colonel Kroehn discussed the latest work on the new Earthforce fortress. She didn't know why she had accepted the invitation for dinner, but probably wouldn't have done so if she hadn't wanted to get away from the Rasputin for just a few hours.

It wasn't that she didn't like her new ship. In fact, the past week had been very peaceful, a little too peaceful. It had been nearly a week since the raiders attacked the planet and, despite their best efforts, none of the technicians working on the captured fighter had discovered who might have been behind its construction. Susan had made her report to Earth Central, but so far, no reply had been forthcoming, which was another worrying fact.

Then of course there was Talia. The telepath had done little to make things easier, insisting on continuing the work of Anderson, which in Susan's opinion appeared to be little more than pestering the crew with constant examinations and evaluations. While there had been no official complaints from her crew, Susan knew from her discussions with Petrov and the other officers that there was an underlying disquiet among the crew about Talia's activities, with many of the crew suspecting her of conducting unauthorised telepath scans during her evaluations. Susan thought about confronting Talia, but that would probably only make things worse. The telepath seemed be doing her best to annoy Susan whenever she could, and so far had been doing a very good job.

Sighing quietly to herself Susan poked her fork at the meal in front of her. Arrayed on her plate was a collection of fresh vegetables that had been neatly arranged around several slices of reddish-grey lizard meat. The vegetables she had eaten, as they were a rare treat from anyone used to serving on an Earthforce warship, where most fruit and vegetables were kept frozen or in stasis pack, which despite the claims of their manufacturers could never compare to truly fresh produce. The meat, however, she was less sure about, as it didn't look like what she thought meat should. Instead when cooked it was grey with streaks of red running though it like veins of fat. In Susan's opinion, meat should not be grey unless there was something wrong with it. Still, neither the Colonel, nor the President had seen anything wrong with it and so she tried a piece, finding it tasted almost as unusual as it appeared. It was sort of like a cross between smoked fish and honey all at once, sweet and spicy at the same time. Susan wasn't sure if she liked it or not, so had moved it aside instead concentrated on the vegetables, so at least she knew what she was eating.

"You don't like the Gonna meat, Captain?" asked the President, pushing aside his now empty plate. "It is something of a local delicacy."

"I was saving it until last," Susan replied with the sweetest smile she could manage.

"Ah I see," Mitrovic said with a knowing nod. "I do that myself sometimes." Then spying a servant heading towards the table his attention turned to other matters. "This must be the desert coming," he said hopefully.

The servant though turned out to be the president's aide. He walked over to Susan said and bent down to whisper into her ear. "I have Earth Central on the link for you Captain. A Colonel Leong I believe the officers name was."

Susan nodded, and with a little relief pushed aside her meal. Turning to the President and the Colonel she said, "I am afraid I have to go gentlemen, duty calls."

"Of course Captain," the President replied, his eyes focused on the large tray two servants were carrying into the room. Colonel Kroehn was busy eating so he just waved his hand in her direction, dismissing her.

Susan walked away from the table, following the President's aide towards a private office attached to the dining room. The dining room, which had enough space to hold tables for maybe two hundred diners, appeared to be reserved solely for the President's use. Everything in the Colonial Administration building similarly large and expensive, a relic of a time when the original settlers had though that Proxima's population might grow to rival that on earth. It hadn't though, and the colony was left with a huge administration building and less than two million people for it to administer. Still President Mitrovic seemed to be enjoying the building as his own private mansion now.

Given the size of every other room she had see in the building, Susan was a little surprised to find that the office she was shown to was small, and almost comfortable. After indicating the vid screen, on which flashed with a message indicating an incoming call, the aide left her alone and hurried away down a statue-lined hallway. Susan perched herself on the edge of a large desk that filled most of the office and turning to the screen said, "Computer accept incoming message."

The Earth Alliance logo was immediately replaced with the large face of Colonel Leong, the current chief of intelligence services in Earthforce. He looked up and seeing Susan waiting said, "Ah Captain, there you are at last."

"Sorry for the delay, Colonel," she said. "I was having dinner with President Mitrovic."

The Colonel's face darkened slightly as she mentioned the former rebel's name, but he quickly put any personal feelings aside and got down to the matter at hand. "Well you are here now, and that is all that matters. I have looked over the report that you sent in last week and there are a couple of questions I would like to ask."

"Go ahead," Susan replied.

"Well first, are you sure that these raiders you mention are using earth technology?"

Susan nodded. "As I mentioned in my report many of the control circuits and electronics recovered from the crashed fighter were definitely using Microtel technology. Dr. Kozlowski, who is the designer of the Warlock-class destroyers, was most definite that the circuits were the same as ones initially offered for the Warlock project, but latter turned down. He also eventually remembered the names of those who were involved in the project."

The intelligence chief tugged a single sheet of paper out of the report. "Yes I have that information before me," he said. "The trouble is captain, all of those on the list are no longer alive. They were killed about eighteen months ago now in an explosion on board a liner near Io. We have also checked with Microtel and they have confirmed that none of their material is missing. None of the other engineers and programmers in the company know anything about the Warlock project. This means that either these now dead programmers passed on something before they died, or your Dr. Kozlowski, who seems to be the only other person who knows anything about these circuits and systems is the one who passed on the information to whoever built the fighters."

"I don't think that it possible Colonel," Susan assured him. "Dr. Kozlowski does not seem to be the person to do such a thing, besides there are other options."

"And what might they be Captain?"

"The programmers from Microtel may have faked their own deaths, or the company itself could be involved."

Leong thought this over for a minute before replying. "Well it is possible, there have been similar cases before. However, all thirty men and woman listed in this document were confirmed killed in the accident, I personally ordered that the DNA matches be rechecked to be certain. In addition, most of those killed had families, and while a faked death scenario is possible, I think we should discount that possibility for now. As for Microtel itself being involved, well I doubt that very much. Microtel is one of the largest megacorporations in the Alliance, they have nothing to gain by building a fleet of raider craft."

Susan wasn't so sure, especially after having heard Garibaldi's account of Edgers Industries plans. While she had no love for Telepath's and Psi-Corp in particular, what William Edgers had been planning was the mass enslavement of nearly ten million people. There was more to this than the Colonel thought, but knowing the way that Earthforce intelligence worked she knew the Colonel had already made up his own mind about the whole matter. "Then I have no other options to offer Colonel," she said. "Unless of course someone else had built a new system up from scratch using stock Microtel parts."

A wide smile spread across the face of Colonel Leong. "My thoughts exactly," he said. "That is the most logical conclusion and means that we are probably dealing with a new raider craft of some kind, just like those old ships Orion colony sells. Probably some pirate thought up a good idea to attack Proxima while it was virtually undefended, not realising that a fleet of warship were stopping over before heading off on patrol."

"That doesn't explain why the raiders kept of fighting after it was obvious they would lose, " Susan said cautiously.

The Colonel stopped for a minute, scratched his short, steel grey hair as if thinking, and then continued. "Unless the pirates did not have as much control over their raiders as we are thinking. Perhaps once they are sent they can not return until their mission is complete."

"Perhaps," Susan said, although she did not have the same confidence in that conclusion as the Colonel obviously did.

"Good," Leong said. "Then you agree with me." Susan was about to raise the point that she didn't really agree but he cut her off before she could argue. "You needed worry about these raiders any more Captain. My intelligence forces will find out exactly who is responsible before long. Your report, and the information sent in by your Dr. Kozlowski, is very thorough so there should enough for us to work with for now."

"As you wish Colonel," Susan replied, slightly annoyed that Earthforce wasn't taking her report as seriously as she had wanted. She had spent an entire day on it, making sure she emphasised all the findings Kozlowski and the other technicians had discovered. However, for all their effort it looked liked Earthforce was just going to forget about it.

"Good, that is dealt with then," said the Colonel, tossing the report to one side. "Now on to the other matter." He leaned forward towards the screen as if trying to keep their conversation secret, although seeing it was a coded link it should be as secure as was possible. "What do you know about Mr. Anderson?"

"The telepath?" Susan asked, a little confused as to why Leong would be interested in him.

"Exactly," the Colonel replied. "The telepath attached by Psi-Corp to your vessel. It appears he has gone missing."

"Missing?" Susan asked in surprise.

"Exactly. It seems that Psi-Corp has been unable to find him. My contacts within the Corp report the Corp are quite upset about it."

Susan didn't know what to say, so just stuck to what she knew. "Well I don't know much about him at all. He was only on my ship for a couple of days before he said he had to return to Mars to be at the side of a close friend who had been injured in an accident."

The Colonel nodded. "Well he didn't arrive, Captain, and now Psi-Corp are out looking for him. I have someone inside the Martian division of the Corps who has told me you may be getting a visit soon, possibly from a couple of Psi-Cops looking for him. Just thought I should warn you before you get a nasty surprise."

"Thank you Colonel," Susan said.

"Always glad to be of service Captain," Leong replied. "Now don't you worry about this raider problem, my agents will soon discover what is going on."

"I am sure they will Admiral," Susan replied, with little conviction in her voice. Leong did not notice her lack of confidence though and after a couple more pleasantries shut down the link from Earthdome.

Leaving the office Susan felt conflicting emotions of anger and fear. She was angry with Earthforce for not taking the threat of the raiders seriously enough, after all they had nearly taken out an entire destroyer. She was also fearful of the possible arrival of a Psi-Cop on her ship, worrying what that visit might herald, especially after her previous experiences with Bester on Babylon 5. Unlike Babylon 5, there were few places to hide on the Rasputin and she doubted that the Psi-Cop, whoever it was, would take kindly to being asked to take sleeper drugs or anything like that. That meant that the whole time the Psi-Cop was on board she would have to be wary of being scanned, always fearful of being discovered.

Shaking her head at the way things always seemed to get worse for her, Susan headed back to the dining room. She had little stomach now for more food, and even less for conversation so she resigned herself to a miserable evening of worrying, about her mess of a life, and about her ship. With the Apollo and Vesta off patrolling the borders and the Odysseus back at Io for repairs, only the Rasputin stood between Proxima and any attack. If the same raiders came again, in similar numbers then they would be hard pressed to hold them off a second time.

* * *

Sarah Chang was dreading the meeting she was on her way to. She had been trying to put it off all week, but at last had no choice but to admit that Harvey Kiel had disappeared and was nowhere to be found. No sign had been seen of him, or any of his operatives for nearly a week and that, Sarah was sure, was not going to be pleasing news to Bester at all. Steeling herself for what was about to come, she walked into the Psi-Cop's office.

As before, Bester waved for her to take a seat and she did so, brushing her long hair back behind her ears and trying to look calm and collected. As she sat there waiting for him to speak, she was taken by a sudden thought, Bester was a short man, and she was a very tall woman. Perhaps that was why he always insisted she sit whenever she was in his office.

 _'I am actually just trying to ensure you are comfortable Ms. Chang.'_ Bester's voice suddenly echoed in her mind as the Psi-Cop turned around to face her and took a seat in his own, large chair. _'I like my guests to be comfortable. Are you comfortable Ms. Chang?'_

 _'Yes Sir,'_ Sarah sent, trying not to flush with embarrassment. It did not pay to have stray thoughts around Bester. He had a tendency to pick them up without you knowing.

 _'What do you have to report then,'_ he asked, staring at her.

 _'Nothing I am afraid Sir,'_ she admitted a little guiltily. _'We have kept a close watch on all the places Kiel might have been, or gone and so far he has not reappeared.'_

Bester nodded. _'I thought as much, I even sent a team to Babylon 5 to see if he was there, but Kiel appears to have dropped out of sight completely. This is a worrying development indeed, and one I will have to look into further.'_

 _'How about his lieutenant, Mr. Anderson,'_ Sarah asked.

_'He also has vanished. I had a report from my agent several days ago that Mr. Anderson left the Rasputin, saying he was bound for Mars. Of course, as you are undoubtedly aware, he did not arrive, and this has me worried. It is not just Kiel or Anderson either, but at least twenty other telepaths allied to their former cause have also all vanished, all in the space of a week.'_

_'What is to be done then Sir,'_ his assistant asked.

 _'We must look for him and Mr. Anderson of course. They are up to something, and I do not believe that whatever it is can be good for the Corps, an especially not good for me. You must go to the last place Anderson was seen and find out more about where he has gone.'_ He pulled a data pad from a desk drawer and handed it over to Sarah. _'Here is all the information you will need on both my agent and Anderson's former assistant Ms. Winters.'_

_'You do not believe she is in on whatever Anderson and Kiel are plotting.'_

Bester shook his head in amusement. _'No, she would not betray the Corps, at least not any more. I have had a lot of experience with Ms. Winters. After all, I sent her off to join our research division her on Mars instead of... Well let us just say that if it had not been for me she wouldn't still be here. No, she has nothing to do with whatever Kiel is doing, but may be of great assistance to you.'_

 _'And your agent?'_ Sarah asked, quickly scanning the file with her eyes, while her mind still carried on the conversation with Bester. _'Can she be trusted?'_

_'With your life, I chose my very best undercover agent for that mission, after all that ship is very important to Earthforce, and what is important to Earthforce is important to us, at least for the moment.'_

_'Sir?'_ Sarah was a little confused by his last statement.

_'Nothing you need worry about yet Ms. Chang. Right now, you must see if you can find Mr. Anderson, or at the very least find out where he has gone.'_

Sarah nodded. _'What about Kiel, Sir?''_

 _'I will personally take charge of the investigation here,'_ Bester responded. _'And I will start with the two agents of his that turned up dead here on Mars recently. While I can no longer questions them, their deaths may still provide me with some answers I need. Those who have encountered them may know even more.'_

_'Very good Sir, I will do the best to discover Anderson's whereabouts.'_

_'I am sure you will Ms. Chang,'_ Bester said. _'I have booked passage for you on the Visitation, a luxury liner leaving for Proxima shortly. After all, there is no reason why you can not travel in style.'_

_"Thank you Sir.'_

Bester waved away her thanks and passed over to her the necessary travel documents, as well as a Psi-Corp issue PPG, and a permit authorising her to carry and use the weapon should it proved necessary. After his previous experience with Ivanova, he knew that Sarah would need everything to be correct if she was to get past the Rasputin's rather stubborn Captain. Then, her arms full, Bester guided her out of the room and sent her on her way.

He didn't really think that she would find anything that his agent on the Rasputin had not already, but as his assistant, she would attract a lot of attention from Kiel and his followers, and while they were busy watching her then he would be able to find out where they were hiding. Bester's first thoughts had been Babylon 5, but although there were rouges on the station, a minor problem that would be dealt with in time, no one allied with Kiel had been discovered by his team.

Clasping his hands behind his back Bester stared out of the window, as if seeking knowledge in the dark landscape outside. He knew there was something going on, but just could quite grasp the details. Kiel was at the heart of whatever plan he had cooked up this time, as probably was his lieutenant Anderson, and the other telepaths who had vanished from across Mars and Earth over the past week. The disappearance of one telepath was enough to make Bester worry, and the disappearance of over twenty, all ranked P10 or higher was a very serious problem indeed.

* * *

**09:48, February 14, 2262.**

"How long until we reach the target system?" Captain Clarke asked his executive officer, who was currently strapped into the seat beside him.

Harrison twisted around in his seat to look at his captain and replied, "only a few more minutes Boss."

Clarke nodded. "Do you have any idea why Earthforce wants us to check out this place anyway?" he asked.

"No more than you do Captain," Harrison replied, turning back to his calculations. "From what I heard, the planet is just a burning rock, little there of interest at all. Some General on Mars though wants us to check it out for some reason or another. Knowing Earthforce it is probably for a bet or something like that."

"Typical," the Captain said with a snort. "Oh well I guess it beats lugging cargo around the listening posts week after week. Get ready to open a jump point."

"Aye Captain."

Clarke went back to fiddling with the restraining straps on his seat and eyeing a data pad, which someone had left lying around gently floating around the command deck, if the two-seat bridge could be called a deck. He sighed as he remembered how only a few months ago he had been a destroyer captain, with a crew of hundreds. Now here he was demoted back to flying a nearly twenty-year-old transport vessel around the outer systems with a crew of only five.

At least the old Mako class ships were a sturdy bunch, not to mention almost undetectable on most sensors, at least as long as they kept their sensors powered down. Of course, to get the stealth ability the designers had been forced to strip away almost everything that sent out an electronic signature, and that included all targeting systems, all active sensors, and the weapons, leaving behind little more than a reinforced shell.

Not the sort of vessel Clarke had wanted to end his career in, but given the current political situation back home, and the fact he had supported President Clark, he was probably lucky to even get this old vessel. He still thought it unfair that someone like Ivanova, who had been second in command of the rebel fleet, was given a plumb posting on Earthforce's latest warship. Yet, he, loyal to Earthforce until the end, had been shipped off to the outer colonies to play delivery boy for a bunch of old listening posts along the border with the Narn Regime. Still the EAS Hammerhead was a solid enough old ship and he could have done worse. A lot of those who had supported Clark so openly were now rotting in gaol. At least he still had his own command.

Scratching an annoying itch on his forearm he watched as a flare of orange light erupted against the background of red mists, the jump point into real space. No one among the five-man crew of the Hammerhead knew much about the system they had been sent to investigate. It was the third in the Arisia system, just inside the territory claimed by the Earth Alliance, but only marginally so. He remembered something from couple of years ago now about an accident in the system, it had been all over the networks for days. If he remembered correctly, there had only been a single survivor. For a brief moment, Clark wondered what had happened to him.

As his ship re-entered real space, Clarke turned his attention back to the job at hand. While he might be stuck out here on an old, slow, transport, he was still a good captain and knew how to run a ship. While his second in command, Lieutenant Harrison took care of navigation Clarke was already activating the Hammerhead's powerful passive sensors. While any active systems, which sent out signals in the hope of detecting objects, were removed during the ship's design, the passive systems, which detected other signals, had been upgraded several times over the years leaving the Hammerhead with a very modern system indeed.

Clark hadn't expected to find anything, but to his surprise the screen lit up like a Christmas tree, with multiple orbital and planet bound signals detected. "What the hell is going on here," he said, drawing Harrison's attention to the sensor screens.

"What ever it is, Captain, I don't think we should hang around here."

Clark nodded. "I agree. Lets get... wait three blips coming our way. Small, possibly fighters."

"Getting us out of here," Harrison almost shouted as he began pushing buttons and making calculations as quickly as he could. "We are going to have to make a run for it, lets hope this old crate still has some legs left in her."

"Getting a match on those ships," the Captain said, watching as the flight computer displayed the silhouette of the unknown fighter on the screen in front of him. They were ships he had never seen before, with a thin cental body tipped with a strange gem like object, and four pylons jutting out from the rear before sweeping forward. Had the Hammerhead's computer been as up to date as the rest of Earthforce's it would have been able to identify them as Drakh fighters, instead it just flashed up UNKNOWN on the screen.

"Damn," Clark said. "No match, but whatever they are they are closing fast. I have never seen anything so fast, they look almost as fast as those Whitestar vessels."

"Hang on Captain," Harrison said. "About to open a jump point."

His hand moved towards the button that would complete all of his frantic calculations and allow the transport to escape. It never made it though, as the fast closing fighters at last came within weapons range. Three brilliant beams of energy erupted from their weapons and struck the old transport. There was a brief flash in the darkness of space and then Earthforce only had two Mako transports left, the third little more than expanding cloud of gas.

The alien fighters slowed to a crawl and scanned the wreckage, but found no trace of anyone alive. The ship's captain, executive officer, and the three crewmen playing a holographic game in one of the cargo decks were now little more than dust. Satisfied the fighters spun around and headed back towards distant dark sphere of Arisia 3, and above it the growing armada of fighters that were being prepared for the giant warship.

* * *


	22. Chapter 22

* * *

Susan's face was an unreadable mask as she watched the black Psi-Corp shuttle entering the Rasputin's shuttle bay. She didn't want to be here to greet the Psi-Cop, but soon realised that staying away would have been even more suspicious. Being this close to a Psi-Cop was certainly not the way she would have hoped to spend an afternoon. In fact, she could probably think of a thousand things more pleasant that she could image doing right now.

Back on Babylon 5, everyone else had been as suspicious of Bester as she was, especially after the first incident involving him, but here she was alone. Some among her crew and command staff may not like telepaths, but they were still not going to go against Earthforce regulations. Therefore, Susan found herself standing alone in the shuttle bay, preparing to meet someone who with a single thought could ruin her entire life.

It was late afternoon by the time the shuttle from Mars had arrived, and for a moment Susan had thought about claiming she was asleep and sending someone else to meet with the Psi-Cop. That would only be putting off the inevitable though, and she had to face her fears eventually. She could only hope this Psi-Cop was not like Bester, and was someone who obeyed the rules of the Corp, which clearly stated no illegal scans.

The door of the shuttle open and a longhaired Asian woman walked down to meet her. "Captain Ivanova?" the woman asked cautiously. After Susan nodded, she continued. "I am Sarah Chang, Psi-Corp rating P12. I am here to examine the recent conduct of Mr. Anderson." She held out her hand for Susan to shake.

Susan refused to shake hands with the Psi-Cop instead asked coldly, "and exactly what is Mr. Anderson supposed to have done?"

Sarah withdrew her hand, a little annoyed. Bester had informed her that Ivanova was bound to be a little difficult; something about her mother if she remembered correctly. However, she had thought the Captain would at least be civil. She opened her mind and could feel the hatred and fear being broadcast at her so strongly, that for a moment she thought the Captain was actually sending it directly into her mind. She dismissed that idea though, realising that the feelings the Captain felt for telepaths were unusually strong, and she was just not used to such powerful hatred.

Realising that she hadn't reposed to the Captain's question yet, Sarah hurried to answer her. "We are not sure he has done anything yet Captain," the Psi-Cop replied. "We are simply investigating his disappearance at the moment."

"I do not see how we can help you out there," Susan said. "After all, he is no longer on board."

Sarah smiled. "I would like to investigate his quarters for clues about his destination. Then I will speak to his assistant, as well anyone else who had contact with him, yourself included."

"I had nothing to do with him, Ms. Chang," Susan said. "As for everyone else you can speak to them, but I don't want you conducting illegal scans on anyone, I had trouble with your kind on Babylon 5."

"You mean Mr. Bester?" Sarah asked, still smiling. "He told me he knew you."

Susan stared suspiciously at the telepath. "You know Bester," she asked.

Sarah nodded. "Only in passing, of course, I work in the same department as him on Mars. Why is there is problem with Mr. Bester."

"Nothing that need concern you Ms. Chang," Susan replied firmly. "You will have my cooperation here as long as you stay within the rules. Break them, I will have you thrown off my ship so fast it will make you head spin."

"Understood Captain," Sarah said with a brief nod, "Now if you will excuse me I will begin my investigation."

Ivanova nodded and stood aside, allowing the telepath to continue towards the lifts leading to the upper decks. Sarah gave her another smile, one she thought was comforting, but the captain obviously only thought was condescending. 'Oh well,' she thought to herself as she walked toward the exit. Obviously there was something upsetting the Captain, and if it involved Mr. Bester then she could probably understand what Ivanova was going through.

She was the latest in a long line of assistants Bester had gone through over the years. Some had died. Others had disappeared, while the rest had retired, worn out after just a few months. Sarah had looked on the posting though as an opportunity. She had only just turned twenty, so for a young telepath like her to be posted such an important position was quite an honour. Perhaps Bester had sensed something in her when they had first met last year, which might explain why he had requested her, but no matter the reason, she was determined to do the job well.

So far, her efforts had not been that successful though. The investigation of the dead telepath on Mars had drawn a complete blank. Then, during her second mission as Bester's assistant, Kiel had escaped during her watch. Still Bester had not seemed too upset, but then she had been unable to really tell what he was feeling, his blocks too strong for her to penetrate without being noticed.

Sarah smiled as she thought about what Captain Ivanova has said about her not being allowed to scan anyone. Obviously, the Captain thought she was able to prevent her abilities from working somehow. As a P12, her telepathic abilities were so strong that it was almost impossible to block out thoughts that were directed at her. Even with the powerful blocks she raised in her mind, the thoughts of normals trickled through regardless. She could block others from reading her mind but not stop herself from scanning the surface thoughts of others.

Of course, she was not actually scanning them, just noticing thoughts directed at her, and their feelings. If she chose to, she could go deeper, but that would definitely be breaking the laws, and something she didn't want to do yet, especially given the way the Captain obviously felt about telepaths. Sarah shuddered slightly as she imagined what might cause someone to have so much hatred for telepaths. Bester had mentioned something about Ivanova's mother, but had not gone into details. No matter what it was, Sarah could not imagine hating someone so much.

A gentle mental probe against the blocks she had erected inside her mind snapped Sarah's attention back to her surroundings; someone was trying to scan her! The Psi-Cop looked around quickly and her eyes soon fell on a blonde woman dressed in the green uniform of the Psi-Corp military adviser leaning casually against a large crate near the lifts. Realising that this must be Anderson's assistant she made her way across the cargo bay to greet her.

"Ms. Winters?" she asked, reaching the other telepath's side.

Talia looked at Sarah as if the Psi-Cop was something she had just scraped off her shoe. "And you are?" she asked, sounding a little bored.

Sarah opened her mind a little to scan the other woman's mind, knowing that while she had easily detected Talia's attempt, she should be able to enter the other woman's mind without being detected. To her surprise, she couldn't sense the Talia's thoughts. It was as if Talia's mind was completely blank and empty.

"I am Sarah Chang," she said at last, concerned by what she had discovered. "I am attached to Psi-Corp on Mars and I am here to investigate the disappearance of your superior Mr. Anderson."

"Has he disappeared?" Talia said innocently. "I wondered why I hadn't seen him around for the past few days."

"Yes he has," replied Sarah, a frown beginning to creep across her face. "And I would like your assistance in finding out what has happened to him."

"I am a little busy," Talia replied with a yawn. She looked across to where Ivanova was talking to one of the Rasputin's maintenance crews. "I have someone I want to talk to."

"I am not sure Captain Ivanova wants to talk to you," Sarah said. "The feelings I picked up from her when we met were very strong. I don't think she likes telepaths that much."

"I know," Talia said with a bright smile.

"Well I need your assistance," Sarah said, growing a little annoyed by now. "I have to meet with someone else on this ship, and I want you there as well so I don't have to repeat my orders."

"Sorry," Talia said. "I am too busy." She then turned and began to walk away.

Sarah quickly recalled the password given to her by Bester and sent it into the other woman's mind. She hadn't wanted to do this, but she also needed Ms. Winter's assistance. Talia froze when the Psi-Cop's mental order pounded into her brain and she turned around slowly and walked back to Sarah's side. The Psi-Cop smiled, "Now that is decided we can continue. Are you ready to assist me now."

"Yes," Talia responded, her voice sounding a little strained. "There was no need to be so insistent."

"Well I need your assistance and I don't have time for any stupidity," Sarah replied. "Now lets go."

Talia nodded and followed the Psi-Cop into the lift, any thoughts of rebellion forgotten. The password the Psi-Cop had sent into her mind made it extremely painful for her to disobey any command sent by the same person. With a sigh, she decided that the task Anderson had given her would have to wait until later. Until she was given leave to return to her normal duties, she had to do what the Psi-Cop ordered.

The Psi-Cop exited the lift on the main access deck that ran the whole length of the ship. To Talia surprise, they didn't head towards the transporter that would take them down the length of the vessel, but instead down the corridor that led to the section set aside as a sickbay. "Where are we going," she asked Sarah.

"We are going to meet someone," was the reply.

"Who," Talia pushed.

There was no reply though, as the Psi-Cop stopped and waited until a short, balding man wearing a white coat and gold-rimmed spectacles pushed his way past, heading along the passage they had just come down. "What a strange mind," Sarah said after he had passed and was out of earshot.

"That is Dr. Kozlowski," Talia informed her. "He is a little unusual."

"I don't think I have ever seen a mind so disorganised and cluttered," the Psi-Cop said, watching the retreat back of the doctor as he turned round the corner and headed down the passage that lead towards engineering. "Sensing his thoughts is like looking into a vast pile of hay and trying to find a tiny, tiny needle. Have you scanned him before?"

Talia nodded. "Several times. I have had no luck either. He is constantly thinking about so many different facts and fantasies at once that it is possible to detect the reality from the false."

"Most unusual," Sarah muttered to herself as she resumed walking toward the sick bay. Perhaps if she had the time later she would examine the doctor a little closer, it might make an interesting article in the weekly Psi-Corp journal. She had always wanted to have something published there, and a detailed study of Kozlowski's mind might just be interesting enough to get her writing into the journal's pages.

She was still thinking this over when she walked into sickbay. The small collection of doctors and nurses suddenly found themselves needed elsewhere as soon as she entered, obviously noticing the black uniform. Sarah felt a stab of annoyance at their actions. 'Didn't they realise that she was only there to protect them, she thought angrily as her eyes swept around the room looking for Bester's agent. Seeing of no sign of the face from the file she had been given, Sarah grabbed the closet nurse. "Where is Dr. Amanda Taylor," she asked, a little harsher than she had intended.

The nurse quickly pointed a trembling finger towards a door on the other side of the room. Sarah looked at Talia, who was still standing near the door, a look of amusement on her face. "Follow me," she said. Talia nodded and the two telepaths crossed the room and opened the door leading into the doctor's private office.

"Doctor Taylor," Sarah called, seeing the doctor sitting in a chair at the far end of the laboratory they had just entered. When the woman did not answer, Sarah crossed the room and put her hand on the doctor's shoulder. "Doctor Taylor," she said again.

"I don't think she is going to answer you," Talia said, reaching down and spinning the doctor's chair around to face them. "I couldn't feel her thoughts when I entered, so I knew something was wrong."

Sarah was annoyed at herself for not noticing the same, but considering that she kept the walls in her mind so high that she didn't accidentally pick up the thoughts of normals and other telepath's, it was not surprising. "Damn," the Psi-Cop swore. "It looks like she is dead. Cordon off this whole section Ms. Winters, while I call the Captain. Try and find Dr. Taylor's assistant on the way back, I'm going to need a doctor to examine her."

Talia nodded, and walked out into the main sick bay area. Sarah cast her eyes over the dead doctor. 'So much for Bester's agent,' she thought. There did not appear to be anything in the way of visible injuries, but there was a thin trickle of blood running from the doctor's nose. With a sigh, she realised that no only did she have a missing renegade, but now also a dead Psi-Corp agent, Bester was not going to be happy.

These thoughts on her mind she tapped her link. An anonymous voice answered her summons. "Yes," it asked.

"Get me Captain Ivanova," she ordered. "And make it quick."

The link beeped once again and this time the tired voice of the Captain answered, "Ivanova here."

"Captain this is Sarah Chang. I need you in sick bay as soon as possible, there has been a murder."

"Who?" Ivanova asked.

"Your chief medical officer, Doctor Amanda Taylor."

"I will be right there," was the Captain's response.

The link then went dead and Sarah went back to her examination of the body. She was about to go and summon one of the other doctor's when Talia returned, dragging a slightly nervous looking man, dressed in the bluish-grey of the medical staff, behind her. The man's face went white, which must have been very difficult considering his well-tanned skin, at the sight of the dead woman.

"What... What happened," he asked.

"That is what we want you to find out doctor," Sarah informed him, stepping aside so he could look at the body.

"Of course," the doctor replied, hurrying over to examine Amanda's body. He poked and prodded for a couple of minutes before looking up into the Psi-Cop's expectant eyes. "Umm I don't know. I will have to do an autopsy to be sure. There are several possibilities, but I can't tell for sure without an autopsy."

Sarah nodded. "You had better begin then doctor, and I want the results sent to me as soon as possible."

He nodded and rushed off to get someone to help him take the dead doctor's body away to an examination table. Sarah turned to Talia. "Well this is annoying," she said. "I was planning on having Dr. Taylor assist us in looking for Mr. Anderson, and now I have to look for her murderer, as well as Anderson."

"My money is on the Captain," Talia replied, noticing that Ivanova had just arrived. "After all we all now how much she hates telepaths, or at least most telepaths." She paused and stared and Susan with a smile. "Isn't that right Captain?"

"Isn't what right?" Susan asked as she entered the room, looking annoyed and shocked at the same time at seeing Amanda's dead body. " What the hell happened here?"

"We don't know yet Captain," Sarah replied, shooting a glare at Talia to try to keep her quiet. We just arrived to speak to Dr. Taylor, but someone it seems had already been here and we found her like this."

"Well not quite like this," Talia cut in with a chuckle. "She was facing the other way when we found her."

Both Ivanova and Sarah glared at her this time, Sarah annoyed at the interruption, and Susan a little shocked that anyone could find someone's death amusing. With a slight look of disgust on her face, Susan turned back to look at the Psi-Cop instead. "Do you have any idea what she died of?" She asked.

Sarah shook her head. "Not yet," she replied. "It looks like we will have to wait until an autopsy. But I would like to begin the investigation at once."

"You?" Susan said, a little confused. "Wouldn't this be something best left to Major Logan, who is after all in charge of security on board the Rasputin?"

"I am more experienced," Sarah replied, not really wanting to tell the captain that Bester had put a Psi-Corp agent on her ship. She could already imagine what reaction that piece of news would get. "Besides this Major Logan is not a telepath, and I will be needed one way or the other, so I might as well be involved from the beginning."

"What about your mission to find Mr. Anderson though?" Susan argued, not wanting the telepath to stick around any longer than necessary. "Surely that takes precedence over the murder of one of my staff, assuming it was a murder."

"Yes, but this may be related to my mission, and I am sure my superiors will not mind me remaining here a while longer to investigate this murder, if, as you said, it is in fact a murder. It may be natural causes, although I doubt that very much."

Susan reluctantly agreed, realising that she was unlikely to get rid of the Psi-Cop that easily. "Very well Ms. Chang," she said. "But until we know for sure this is murder I don't want you running around arresting anyone and everyone just on suspicion. And if you do need to arrest anyone on board, then Major Logan will provide a security team to assist."

"I will try to contain myself Captain," she said with a faint smile. Then she noticed the doctor she had spoken to earlier returning with a stretcher and three nurses and motioned everyone to stand out of the way. After Amanda Taylor's body had been carried off, she turned back to the Captain. "The autopsy will likely take some time," Sarah told Susan. "So, seeing it is already quite late, I might get some rest first and begin my investigation later. Until then though, I want this whole section sealed off, and everyone who is in the sick bay held for questioning, including the medical staff currently on duty."

Susan nodded. "I will get Major Logan to assign several marines to secure the medical bay. If you need anything else then let her know."

"I think that will do for now Captain," Sarah replied.

Susan nodded and hurried out of sickbay, with on final look in the direction of dead doctor. Talia watched her leave and then leaned over to Sarah. "What did I tell you," she whispered, just low enough so that the others in the room could not hear her. "There goes a guilty woman if you ask me."

"I think I will wait until the autopsy is finished first," Sarah replied coldly, annoyed at the way the other woman was treating the Captain. There was probably something more here than she could see at first glance, but there was no need for Talia to treat Ivanova so badly. She would have to keep an eye on her while she was here.

"As you wish," Talia said with a shrug. "If you ask me though, you are wasting your time. The Captain is obviously guilty."

Noticing the stares of some of the medical staff, Sarah frowned and turned to Talia. "Shut up," she said bluntly. "Or I will have to do something I don't really want to."

Talia was about to open her mouth again when she remember the way Sarah had controlled her down in the shuttle bay and nodded, subdued for the moment. The Psi-Cop looked pleased that Talia had finally learned her place and ordered the other telepath to follow her as she headed for the deck set aside for the quarters of the command staff. It would be sometime before the autopsy was complete, so that gave her some time to examine Anderson's quarters and think. She didn't really want to have to tell Bester what had occurred yet, that could wait until she was sure of what had killed his agent.

Besides, as she had told the Captain, it was late, and back on Mars, it would be the middle of the night. Bester could wait until tomorrow when she knew more, and he wouldn't be upset about her waking him in the middle of the night. Instead, she turned her thoughts inwards, trying to determine who could have killed the Psi-Corp agent. Talia was correct in thinking that Captain Ivanova was a possible suspect, but then until Sarah knew more about the Rasputin's crew so was everyone else on board the warship.

* * *

Anderson walked quickly down the wide passage that led to the command deck of the Enlightener, as Kiel was now insisting that the warship be called by its crew. The command section, as well as the main weapon itself had been completed months ago, but it had unfortunately not been ready to use during the civil war. That had been something of a sore point for Kiel, as it had set his plans back by nearly six months. Still everything was now nearing completion, and even without the new destroyers that President Clark had originally promised as an escort, it was a mighty weapon.

Nodding to the two soldiers who stood guard, PPG rifles slung casually over their shoulders, he made his way onto the bridge. It was empty at this time on night, with only Kiel and one of their alien allies present. The rest of the crew, almost exclusively human, were probably resting, except for those in the fighter control section two decks below the bridge, who were always on standby to launch the fighters in case of another attack.

Of course, the ancient transport that had attempted to scout the Arisia system hardly comprised what Anderson would have called an attack. Kiel had been very concerned though, and had made Anderson contact all their remaining agents inside Earthdome and the Psi-Corps to see what was going on.

"Well," the former Psi-Cop asked, seeing his assistant hurrying up the ramp towards the commander's seat.

"Nothing," Anderson replied. "None of our agents has reported anything out of the ordinary. There have been no major fleet movements in the past few days, and from what they could tell the transport was not on an official mission from Earthforce."

"Hmmm," Kiel murmured to himself. "It may have been just an accident then. Perhaps the transport jumped here for some other reason."

A whisper from beside him drew both telepath's attention and they turned to look at the grey skinned alien who had spoken. The creature still wore it's dark hood, as it had done every time Kiel had met it, but now it also held a round translation device of some kind, that flashed whenever it spoke. "Humans did not send vessel?" it asked.

"Not that we know of," Kiel responded. "It was Earthforce, but they didn't send it."

"They will come?" the alien queried. "Soon?"

Kiel looked at Anderson who shook his head. "I don't think so," the younger telepath said. "Our agents said that Colonel Leong has been put in charge of investigating the fighters. He is an old school officer and is suspicious of Orion VII and Vega Colony, where most raiders usually hide out, so his team is already on their way to those worlds. They know nothing of us yet so hopefully they will go missing in the jungles of Vega and never be seen again."

"Good," the alien whispered.

Kiel agreed with him. It was good that Earthforce knew nothing of their plans. This whole project had to be a surprise if it was to work. The alien had supplied the necessary technology to power the ship and the fighters, and their allies among the Centauri had supplied detailed technical plans for the weapon, which was apparently some sort of old project of the republic that they never had the money or will to complete. Now with everything in place, all they needed was another week of security. Then, with what was left of the Earth Alliance fleet spread across a wide expanse of space, it would be easy for Kiel to sneak through and attack at the heart of the Alliance.

The alien noticed his smile, but said nothing. Its plans were a little different from Kiel's, and it did not care if this project work or failed. If it worked and Kiel conquered the alliance as he planned then he would become their slave, controlled by a Keeper as the Centauri Regent now was. If it failed and Kiel died, then that would serve the alien's plans just as well. The telepath was a fool, as most humans who sought power were. He could not see past his own dreams to see the truth that was right in front of him. Had the alien been capable of doing so he would have smiled. Instead, he just stood and watched as the telepath strutted around the bridge as if he already ruled the Earth Alliance.

* * *

Nathan Kozlowski hurried back along the corridor toward the lifts. He had been in his quarters, feeding his goldfish when he suddenly remembered that he still hadn't given the Captain the information on telepathic mindwipes that she had asked for. He didn't know if it was important to her or not, but he did know that he never liked to leave anything unfinished. Rushing towards her quarters, he never ever saw her leaving the officer's dining room until it was too late and they had collided. The doctor fell to the floor and the data crystal slipped from his fingers and rolled across the floor.

"Watch where you're going," Ivanova snapped.

"Captain!" Kozlowski said with a pleased smile on his face as he collected the crystal and picked himself up. "I was just on my way to see you."

"What can I do for you, Doctor?"

He pushed the data crystal containing the information he had collected into her hands. "Here is the research I promised Captain," he said before rushing off again, not wanting to leave his latest experiment alone for too long in case it exploded and ruined his quarters.

"What," Susan said in confusion as she looked down at the data crystal sitting in her hands. By the time she looked up again, the white coated back of the doctor was just disappearing through the rapidly closing doors of the nearest lift. Shrugging she dropped the data crystal into a pocket and headed off to her quarters, reminding herself to look at it later.

However, as she walked off towards her quarters, she stepped on something that rolled away from beneath her boot. Just managing to catch herself before falling, she looked down to see a smooth sphere of white rock sitting on the metal floor. Bending down to pick it up, she realised that it must have belonged to the doctor, and had fallen out of one of his pockets when he had collided with her. She looked back in the direction of the lift again, but then decided that right now she needed to sleep, the events of the day leaving her worn out. She would give Kozlowski his pet rock back in the morning.

After making her way though her office and into her quarters, Susan pulled open the sliding doors leading into her bedroom and let herself fall forward onto her bed. It felt so comfortable and warm that she could not bring herself to get up again and remove her uniform, instead just lying there fully dressed until sleep finally claimed her.

* * *

For the first time in several nights, Susan's sleep was troubled by nightmares. Perhaps it was the death of Dr. Taylor, or maybe the presence of the Psi-Cop on her ship, but whatever the cause she was soon writhing on the bed, crying out in fear at the demons that stalked her in the night.

In her dream she was strapped to a chair as a wildly laughing Bester, joined by Talia, Anderson, and Chang danced around her waving large needles, just like the ones the Psi-Corp had used to inject the sleeper drugs into her mother. Her screams were suddenly cut short though as her phantom tormentors vanished, along with the needles and the chair. Instead, she found herself standing outside her quarters, dressed in her uniform, which was rumpled as if she had fallen asleep wearing it.

The corridor was dark, but she soon became away of a faint light coming from behind her. Turning to face the door of her cabin, she watched as a thin ribbon of light passed through the door and began to curl around her. She tried to back away, but found it was if her feet were glued to the floor, she couldn't move.

A whispering voice drifted to her, somehow distant and close at the same time. "You chose well, little singer," it said, its voice accompanied by what seemed like music. It was so beautiful and soothing that Susan could not stop herself from being caught up in its song, the memories of her bad dream washing away.

"What do you mean?" Susan asked.

"You do not remember our last meeting?" the voice asked.

"Obviously not," Susan replied, trying to turn her head to look at the ribbon of light that curled around her body. "Who are you?"

"You have already asked me that," the voice said. "Your song is still too weak," the voice said, and Susan detected a note of sadness enter the music that accompanied it. "You are not yet ready."

"Ready for what?"

"We have spoken too soon," the musical voice replied. "You cannot help me, your song must be stronger."

"I don't understand." Susan said, still trying to force her body to move.

"No…"

The voice faded away and after several long moments, Susan wondered if it had gone for good. Then it suddenly returned stronger than before. "Come," the voice said.

As it spoke, the ribbon of light around her body also began to move, drifting off along the corridor. She found herself being pulled along the corridor by the music, past the computer rooms, the lifts, and dining room and towards the bridge. She tried to resist, but her feet would still not obey the commands of her brain.

To her surprise, the doors of the bridge would not open at her approach. Annoyed she raised her hand as if to touch them, and found her hand slipping straight through the metal of the door. Her body soon followed and she fell forward, dropping down through the deck as if it were made of nothing stronger than mist. Then, just as she thought she would fall all the way through the ship, the voice returned. "Come," it said again.

She felt her fall slowing and looking around her saw the ribbon of light gliding down through the metal decks, winding around her body and then lifting her back up towards the bridge. "Your song is too weak little one," the musical voice said. "Concentrate on my song and I will guide you."

Susan looked around the bridge. She recognised the crewmembers on duty as those attached to the night watch. She tried to attract their attention, but for some reason they could not see her. " Who are you?" she asked again, turning towards the direction she thought the strange voice had come from.

A strange sense of amusement ran through her and then the voice returned. "They also asked me the same question, long ago when they were still young. I am not like you little singer, names have little meaning to me. However, if it pleases you to give me a name, you may call me The Wanderer."

"The Wanderer?" Susan asked. "What is that supposed to mean?"

A feeling of sadness came over her. "You do not understand. Your mind cannot comprehend me yet. Later, when your song is stronger, you will dsicover what you seek. Now you must follow and learn."

"But, what are you?"

A feeling of amusement rushed over her again, swamping her in its power. "You are persistent little singer. I am what I am, as you are what you are. It is impossible to explain when you are so young and cannot comprehend the song. Come, follow me, I am here to aid you."

Susan looked around her again, and was a little shocked to find the bridge drifting away, changing to a corridor that she recognised as the one that ran past all the officer's quarters. "Where are you taking me?" she asked, a little frightened.

"Your past," the voice said. "A reward for the future."

"A reward?" Susan queried, wondered what the creature, or whatever was out there, was talking about.

"You have chosen well, fought to survive instead of choosing death, as I knew you would. In doing so, you have survived the first trial, even if you do not remember it."

Susan suddenly remembered the strange dream she had while on Mars High and although she could not remember the details, she realised that whatever had happened then must have been more than a dream. Before she could ask another question though, she found herself falling for what seemed like forever. Then the ground came up suddenly below her and she crashed into a steel deck of some sort. The music of the song was gone, but instead she heard a whispered voice in the distance, almost a chant or mantra. The new voice seemed to be speaking the same phrase repeatedly, and although she was still some distance from the voice's owner, Susan could feel the pain and desperation in the voice.

Pulling herself back to her feet, Susan looked around at her surroundings. It was dark, but not dark enough so that nothing could be seen. She appeared to be in a long corridor, lit faintly by a light source that was hidden high above her. There was no sign of anyone nearby, just the long corridor and the distant chant. Deciding that she might as well at least find out what was making the noise Susan set off down to corridor.

It took her what seemed like hours, each step was like wading through syrup, but eventually the voice began to grow louder. As it did, she realised that it was familiar, although she couldn't quite place it yet. It seemed to be repeating over and over the same line from an old nursery rhyme. " Mary had a little lamb, it fleece was white as snow," the voice said repeatedly, as seemingly unending circle. Susan continued toward it.

Time passed, perhaps hours, or maybe even days, but eventually Susan reached the end of the corridor. There it widened into a chamber, where a single spotlight high above shone down on a figure sitting cross-legged on the floor, a blanket drawn up tight around its shoulders and over its head. This figure was chanting the nursery rhyme, its voice little more than a harsh whisper, no longer recognisable as male or female. Just below the chant was another noise, a faint, regular beating sound, similar to the besting of a heart.

Susan moved over to stand beside of the figure, unsure exactly what was happening. Then, mainly because she could think of little else to do, she sat down in front of the figure. "Hello," she said. The figure did not respond, and just continued chanting, the same phrase repeatedly. Susan reached up and tugged at the blanket that covered the figure, pulling it away. Below was a person she had no trouble at recognising. "Talia," she breathed.

This was not the same woman who was on the Rasputin though, this Talia was so thin her ribs stood out plainly beneath her thin dress, that had once been white, but was now so covered with dirt it appeared almost black. Her blonde hair hung lifeless from her head, and her skin was so white it appeared almost translucent. Her eyes were clenched tightly shut and only her mouth was moving, continuing it's never ending chant. Susan was afraid to touch her; afraid that she would crumble to dust so weak did she appear.

"Talia," Susan called. "Can you hear me?" There was no response though, and Talia continued to chant. Susan tried again, louder, but again there was no change. She looked around for something to help her, but apart from the blanket and Talia herself, the chamber appeared empty. Frustrated she reached out and gripped Talia by the shoulder, only lightly in case she hurt her and called out again.

This time there was a response, and Talia flinched under her touch, but as before her chant did not falter, continuing as if her life depended on it. Susan reached out again and gently gripped both of Talia's shoulders before leaning forward and calling out again, as loudly as she would dare.

Talia's chanting suddenly stopped and with what seemed like extraordinary effort her eyelids opened and almost sightless eyes peered out at her. "S... Susan?" she asked weakly.

Susan cupped her hand around Talia's face and looked at her lovingly. "Yes it's me," she said, tears beginning to form in her eyes.

"But you are dead," Talia said her eyes finally focusing on Susan's face. "She told me you she killed you. She showed me how you died at her hand."

Susan's heart wrenched at that news. "No I am alive," she tried to assure Talia. "It was I who thought you were dead."

Talia shook her head slowly, even that small effort seeming to exhaust her. "I hid," she whispered, her own eyes beginning to brim with tears. "I hid myself away in a secret place where she could not find me. She looked and looked but she could not find this place."

"Oh Talia," Susan cried. "I am so sorry. Had I known, I would have tried to get you back. I wouldn't have let them take you away from me. I would have helped somehow, instead of just letting you walk away."

Talia smiled, or at least tried to, and raised her hand to wipe away the tears that flowed down Susan's face. "I forgive you Susan," she said weakly. "You are here now, I can feel your mind touching mine, just like it did that night so long ago. I know you will help me now. You are strong, you can bring me back."

"I don't know what to do," Susan said sadly. "I don't know how to get you back."

Talia nodded. "I know." Then she looked up at the light, far above them, and shuddered. "She's still out there isn't she, just sleeping at the moment."

"It is night," Susan explained. Then a little less sure of herself she continued, "I think I am sleeping as well. There is someone… something else…"

Talia didn't seem to hear Susan's last comment instead continued speaking. "I am only free when she is asleep, free to wander her dreams to see the horrible things she thinks about, and the horrible things she had done. She likes to show me too, every time she does something mean and horrid she will think about it constantly, knowing that I can see her thoughts."

"How did you survive?" Susan asked softly. "I could not live like that."

"I don't know Susan. Somehow, part of my mind survives. I can hide here, safe from her, but not safe from her taunts. When she is awake, she sends images, horrible images to try to destroy me. That is why I had to try and shut her out, to shut everything out."

"I don't know if I can help you Talia," Susan said, her lack of confidence plainly evident in her voice. "I think this is only a dream."

"Then we should dream while we can," Talia said, smiling up at her. "As long as I know you are alive, that there is hope, I can survive." She pulled Susan closer, as if she needed her warmth. Susan didn't hesitate and slipped her arms around Talia's body, hesitating slightly as she felt the bony ribs and parchment-like skin. They seemed to lie there for hours, sharing their warmth and love.

Eventually Talia looked up, staring sadly down the corridor Susan had travelled. At the far end a bright light had appeared. "She is waking up," Talia said. "You must go. If she find you here she will destroy you." She pushed Susan away. "Hurry, you don't have much time."

"I don't know how to leave," Susan cried. However, Talia was no longer listening, instead sitting back down in the same position Susan had left her and resuming the same chant. Susan leant down and gently drew the blanket back around Talia once more before turning to face the corridor. The light was drawing closer, and Susan felt apprehension and fear begin to rise within her again as it approached.

Then the voice returned. "Come," it said again. The ribbon of light returned and wound itself once more around Susan's body, lifting her upwards any away. She found herself floating in a dark space, with a single bright light off in the distance. "My time is nearly over," the voice said. "I grow weak again."

"How do I help her?" Susan asked.

"I do not know," the voice replied. "You must seek that knowledge yourself, but know that you have within the power to do great things, if only you choose to use that power. Remain silent and your voice will never be heard, sing and you will be heard by all existence." The light in the distance grew closer. "Your time is nearly up too," the voice said sadly.

"Who are you?" Susan asked again.

"I am The Wanderer," the voice replied. "I once wandered the stars and listened to the song of the spheres. Now I am a prisoner, but I can still hear the song. Listen with me little one and learn."

Susan suddenly became aware of a distant voice. It was soon joined by another, and then another, and so on until the sound of a billion voices rang in her ears. At first, it was little more than noise, but then as more and more voices joined the first, she heard a song rising from the noise. It was song of infinite beauty, and infinite wisdom, as if every creature in the universe was singing of their joy and love all at once.

"Remember the song little one," the voice said, much weaker now. "It is a weapon and a shield. Only a few each aeon learn to hear the song, and you have within you that potential, more than any other of your kind does. Many can sing the song, but they cannot hear it. Learn to hear the song little one and none will touch you, stay silent and you will fall as so many others have fallen before you."

"Why are you doing this?" Susan said. Her voice was weakened by the memory of what she had just heard. "Why are you helping me like this?"

The voice was so dim now Susan could barely hear it. "I seek to guide you, so you may become all that you were born to be."

"Why?"

Only a faint whisper responded this time, fading away to nothingness as she listened. "You have a destiny little one. You will learn to sing and then you shall sing the song of freedom and I will be free of their influence at last. Learn to sing little one as I have need of you. I will call again when you are strong..."

Then it was gone and Susan found herself lying face down on her bed, still in the same uniform she had been wearing the previous night. "It was a dream?" she asked herself as she pulled herself up onto her elbows, confused by what had happened. She tired to get up, but sharp pain shooting through her skull forced her to lie back down again, clutching her head and moaning in agony. A thousand other hurts and pains flooded into her body, as every joint and blood vessel ached as one.

She felt as though she had not slept in a month, and could barely keep her eyes open. The pain and tiredness did not last long though and soon began to fade away. As it subsided to a distant throbbing, Susan glanced over at the vid screen to check the time, noticing that it was just five minutes before her alarm was meant to wake her. Still clutching her hands to her aching head, she sat up and stared at the screen, as if trying to will it to change time. It did, but only to indicate another minute had passed.

Sighing she ordered the computer to deactivate the alarm and hauled herself to her feet. The pain in her body was still there, but it was fading. The memories of her dream, or had it all been real she wondered, were still there as well, so vivid that she could not help but believe them. Not wanting to forget any detail this time, she concentrated, running the events through in her head, trying to understand them.

Somehow, someone, or rather something, had contacted her, from where she did not know, although she had a feeling it was from a great distance away. Susan couldn't image the mental power needed to telepathically contact her across the vastness of space. It had shown her that Talia, the real Talia this time, the one she loved, was still alive somewhere deep inside the blonde telepath's mind. If the memories were not so vivid she would have passed it off as just another dream, one among hundreds she had experienced since Talia had left.

Instead, it seemed real, but Susan wasn't sure if she could believe what her own senses had told her, especially when it had only been a dream. Tugging off her rumpled uniform, she staggered into the shower and let the warm water wash away her pains. Even if she believed her dream, she still wasn't any closer to freeing Talia, or rather no closer to knowing how to free her. However, she was determined now, Susan realised suddenly. Gone were her fears and self-doubt. Somehow, she knew it could be done, she just didn't know how. All she had to do was do what the voice in her dream had said and learn to use her abilities.

She closed her eyes and tried to remember what else the voice had said. Instead of memories a song rose up, one that filled her with life and power and washed away any remaining fears she felt. "The song of the spheres," she whispered. Then the song in her mind faded, and Susan was left feeling strangely refreshed and strong. She turned off the water and stepped out of the shower.

"I will free her," Susan said, her voice grim with determination. "Even if it takes me another two and a half years, I will free her, and no-one, not the monster they put in her head, not that Psi-Cop, or even the entire Corps will stop me."

* * *


	23. Chapter 23

* * *

**07:56, February 15, 2262.**

Commander Suli Kargas stared at the screen in front of her with bloodshot eyes. It didn't change. She yawned and tried to look interested, but knowing very well that barring a miracle, the information on the screen was not likely to ever change. Suli was stuck, as many before her had been, on one of the Earth Alliance's deep space listening posts, which were widely regarded as the worst possible posting in Earthforce.

Constructed soon after the Earth/Minbari war along the borders of the Alliance, these posts were supposed to prevent any future attack by alien races. The tiny base that Suli found herself stuck in was Listening Post Serene, built inside a slowly rotating asteroid, just inside Narn space. Actually, Suli wasn't sure if it was still Narn space, so much had happened over the past few years that no one really knew where the borders of each race's control began and ended.

The listening posts may have been designed to prevent alien governments from launching sneak attacks on Earth, but all they had been used for over the past few years had been to watch the other alien races, and then finally Earth, going to war with themselves and each other. There was little the fifty or so Earthforce personal on each base could do about this, their job was just to sit and watch, and if something important enough happened, report their findings.

In the three months Suli had been in charge the most interesting thing that had occurred had been the arrival a single Narn battle cruiser which had stopped off at a nearby colony for supplies and then left two days later. It was a boring job, but someone, and for now that someone was Suli, had to do it. She had been appointed here just after the end of the civil war back on Earth, and despite the boredom she was feeling, she knew it was a great opportunity. Another three months and she would be on her way back to Earth, and probably a posting on a destroyer, or maybe, if she was lucky, even a space station.

Suli picked up the drink container that floated near her station and took a brief sip of the sweet protein drink inside. In the zero-g environment of the listening post, one could not be too choosy about what they had to eat or drink, and quickly learnt to take what they could get. Fortunately, only a week ago, a supply ship had arrived and the listening post's storerooms were crammed high with enough goods to last the six months until the next supply run.

Taking another sip of the sugary drink, Suli looked around at her command. The three other officers on duty in the control room of the base were either snoozing or reading the latest issue of Universe Today, which they picked up each day off the network from Earth. It was like almost every other day Suli had experienced since being sent to the most boring posting imaginable. She sighed and picked up a data pad she had been working with. Someone had to stay alert, and it looked like today it was the base commander's turn.

An hour later, she was still engrossed in the wonderful world of duty reports and crew evaluations where a flashing light on the screen in front of her caught her attention. Frowning she put aside the data pad, allowing it to float freely next to her. The light indicated an object approaching the listening post, but it was too distant to tell exactly what. She looked up at the other crew. "Ford," she called to the lieutenant reading the paper. "Wake Bartolo and Kennett up. It looks like we might have something."

Lieutenant Ford put down his paper and looked at his own screen, immediately noticing the same thing she did. Unstrapping himself from his chair, he floated over to the side of the other two officers and shook them roughly until they were awake. Rubbing the sleep from their eyes, they looked about in confusion for a moment before also noticing the warning. Suddenly everyone was all business, trying to discover exactly what the object was.

"What the hell is that," Bartolo asked, still a little sleepy. His hands though were already busy flying across the keyboard in front of him, while at the same trying brushing away the long red hair that kept flopping down in front of his eyes. It took him nearly a minute before he remembered that he didn't have either long red hair, or in fact any hair at all. Instead, some one put a wig over his balding head while he had been asleep. A feminine chuckle from nearby alerted him to who had been responsible and he glared at Anna Kennett, the base's communications monitor, who smiled sweetly back at him, the picture of innocence.

"Save it for later you two," Suli ordered. "I want information on that thing, and I want it fast."

"It looks like a rock to me, Commander," Ford said, having just received the first reading from the base's powerful sensors. "A big rock, but a rock none the less."

"Damn," Suli replied. "Not another one." Asteroids were a common annoyance to those stationed on listening posts. Almost impossible to find by passive sensors until they where right on you, asteroids were responsible for close to two thirds of all false alarms. "Ok everyone," the Commander said. "Stand down, it is just another rock."

Bartolo groaned and slumped back in his chair, scratching his head. "Damn rocks," he said in annoyance.

"Wait a minute Commander," Ford called. "We are getting another reading from behind the asteroid. I don't know what it is, but it is big, damn big."

"Can you bring it up on the screen," Suli asked.

"Just doing it Commander," the lieutenant replied, bringing up on the display a large, constantly shifting image of some sort of vessel. "I am having trouble locking on. The image keeps shifting around and the computer is having trouble catching it."

"Try your best Lieutenant," Suli said, watching the long flat image on the screen waver and flicker. Then she noticed something strange and her face drained of colour. "Oh shit," she swore, slamming her hand down on the large red alert button that sat in the middle of the console in front of her.

"What wrong," Ford asked, a puzzled frown on his face.

"That asteroid is heading right for us," the Commander told him. "If it hits we are dead."

The other officers quickly confirmed their commander's calculations. The asteroid was indeed heading straight for the base at high speed, and even if it didn't strike the base directly, the impact with the asteroid the base was built inside would be enough to probably kill everyone stationed there.

"Should we order a full evacuation, Commander?" Ford asked, trying to keep his voice calm.

Suli nodded and opened a channel to the entire base. "This is Commander Kargas," she said. "An incoming asteroid is about to strike this base. All personal are to proceed immediately to the life pods. I repeat all personal are to proceed immediately to the life pods. This is not a drill."

She repeated the same message another two times, watching as the asteroid drew ever closer on the screen. A distant thud rang through the station signalling the first of the life pods launching. She knew it was unlikely that she and the rest of the officers in the control room would have time to escape now, but at least most of her crew would escape.

"Commander," Kennett called to Suli from her post. "I am picking up some kind of transmission from the ship following the asteroid."

"What sort of transmission?" Suli asked wearily.

The communications monitor shrugged. "I don't know," she replied. "It is an a signal emanating from that big ship behind the asteroid and directed at space behind us."

"Behind us," the Commander said, forgetting all about the doom rushing towards them. "Show me."

The screen flickered and changed, showing the area of space to the rear of the station. Points of green light showed the life pods that had been launched from the base as well a small cloud of red dots. "What are they," she asked. As she spoke one of the green dots winked out, then another and another until only the red dots remained. Suli could only watch in shock as her crew were slaughtered, one by one.

She knew there was nothing she could do though. Whoever was out there had planned this attack to perfection. She turned back to the stunned officers. "Are we being jammed?" she asked Kennett. When the other woman didn't reply she asked again, this time louder. "Ensign Kennett, are we being jammed."

The younger woman blinked and looked down at her console. "No commander," she replied. "No jamming signal detected."

"Good," Suli replied. "Dump our records from the last ten minutes and then attach them to a message for Earthforce. Then when that it done send it on a tight beam transmission to the nearest Earthforce base."

The communication monitor nodded and quickly carried out her orders. Suli looked around at the worried, but strangely determined faces of her officers. "I don't know who these guys are," she said. "But Earthforce is going to know they are coming."

"Message sent," Ensign Kennett suddenly said, and then their lives ended in a brilliant flash of light that lit up space for miles around as the unstable Quantium-40 core of the incoming asteroid exploded on contact with the base. Shards of rubble, tossed out be initial impact, were incinerated by the enormous explosion that followed, as both asteroids vanished in a rapidly expanding fireball. Had the sensors at the base, or in fact the base itself, survived for a moment longer they would have seen the enemy fighters scrambling to avoid the explosion, and the massive wave of energy that followed shortly after.

* * *

On the bridge of the Enlightener, Harvey Kiel sat back and look on in pleasure as the listening post was obliterated. The test had gone just as they had planned, the Earthforce base had not even known they were there until it was too late. He looked over at the Anderson who also nodded in satisfaction.

"Mass driver test successful," came the voice of one of the bridge crew. "Weapon has been reloaded, and gravity generators are recharging. Estimate ten minutes before we are ready to fire again."

"Well," Anderson said walking over to Kiel side, while still watching the fireball that was only now just beginning to fade from the screens. "I think we can say that was successful. Of course, we could have done the job just as well with the fighters against such a small target."

"But we did need to test the weapon," Kiel replied. "And now we know it works we can move on to bigger targets." He looked over the helmsman. "Set course for the next target," he said, loud enough so that everyone on the bridge could hear him. Then he turned back to Anderson and continued their conversation telepathically. _'The fools never knew what hit them.'_

 _'No Sir,'_ Anderson replied. _'Have you finalised the next target yet?'_

 _'You were not present at the meeting,'_ Kiel queried. When Anderson shook his head, he continued. _'It was decided there that one more test against an outpost would be needed, and then we can move on to the major targets.'_

 _'Will they be necessary though,'_ Anderson asked. _'I mean once Earthforce knows what power we have under our control won't they just buckle and surrender.'_

 _'Perhaps,'_ Kiel replied. _'But either way I want to make an example of at least one world. Given the choice between Proxima III and Mars I have chosen Proxima. It is less defended and will put less strain on our resources.'_

_'A very good choice, Sir, and we might also take the time to remove Ivanova's ship while we are there. She, and that new ship of hers, might become a problem otherwise.'_

Kiel smiled. _'Yes I think we can spare a few minutes to destroy the Rasputin and anyone else who stands in our way. I have just learned that we do not need to worry about the Interstellar Alliance for now. They have problems on some world near Drazi space and their fleet will be out of the way for some time.'_

 _'Did our allies arrange that?'_ Anderson asked.

_'No this has nothing to do with them this time; it is just lucky for us that it all worked out this way. With the Interstellar Alliance out of the way for at least a week, or maybe even more, we will have all the time we need to finish conquering the Earth Alliance. Then by the time Sheridan recalls his ships, we will have all of Earthforce under our command and there will be nothing he can do.'_

_'Unless Earth decides not to surrender,'_ Anderson warned.

Kiel smiled and patted the console in front of him. _'Well, if they continue to try to fight then we will have to show them just what we can do won't we. One shot from this baby and we level Earthdome and a good portion of Europe. I don't think they will try and resist us a second time after that.'_

 _'Indeed Sir,'_ Anderson said with a broad smile.

"Ready to jump," the voice of the helmsman called.

"Engage," Kiel said.

He turned back to Anderson. _'I have always wanted to say that,'_ he said, his mind broadcasting the humour he felt. Ahead a vast orange circle appeared against the black background of space, as a jump point large enough to admit the ten-kilometre long vessel, was opened by the warship's engines. The warship jumped forward into Hyperspace, followed by the small escort of alien fighters that were just returning from destroying the last of the listening post's life pods. Behind, it left nothing more that dust, and a few floating tiny chunks of wreckage from the pods.

* * *

"Are these all of your findings?" Susan asked Goran Habbib, the newly appointed chief medical officer, and the person responsible for Dr. Taylor's autopsy.

"Yes Captain," he replied a little nervously. Standing in front of the captain he had quickly realised that Ivanova had a way of staring down at you, even though you were the one standing and she the one sitting.

"Hmmm natural causes then," the Captain said, reading the data pad. "Are you certain. Ms. Chang seemed quite sure it was murder."

Dr. Habbib nodded, trying to look confident in his work. "According to all the tests I conducted Dr. Taylor died of heart failure."

"I would have thought she was a little young," Susan mused. "I think I am older than she was."

Habbib shrugged. "It is rare I admit for someone of her age to die like this, especially given the testing we perform on all Earthforce staff these days, but not unknown. I would put down stress as the most likely cause."

"Indeed," Susan said. "I think I know how she felt." She tapped the data pad a couple of time with one finger, as if considering its contents. Dr. Habbib looked on, his hands twitching nervously. Finally, Susan looked up again. "Very well, I accept your report. However, I am not sure if Ms. Chang will. She might still insist on further investigation, which of course is her right, so if I were you I would make sure you can support your findings, she does seem particularly interested in Dr. Taylor for some reason."

"I stand by my report Captain," the doctor said, his confidence growing now that he had the Captain's approval of his work. He hadn't wanted this job thrust on him, and would have been content to remain in charge of the second shift in sickbay, doing what he did best, healing people. Amanda Taylor's sudden death though had been something he had not counted on, and now he found himself thrust into the spotlight.

"Good," Susan replied. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted the black uniform of the Psi-Cop, closely followed by Talia's green uniform, enter the bridge. "You can take your report to Ms. Chang then." She paused. "In fact that looks like her just coming now."

Habbib spun around and his nervous twitch returned as the tall telepath strode onto the bridge through the open doors. She stared at him for a second before walking across towards Susan. "Is that the autopsy report?" she asked, pointing towards the data pad in Susan's hands.

"It is," Susan replied, handing over the pad. "Dr Habbib here had just finished explaining it to me and was about to bring it along to your quarters."

"Natural Causes?" Sarah sneered after she had scanned the findings. "You have to be kidding me." She glared at the doctor in annoyance and opened her mind just enough to feel his thoughts. The doctor was a little frightened, of both her, and the captain, but, to her surprise, she could feel no malice or fear of discovery that she would have experienced if he had falsified the report. He obviously thought that what he had reported was correct.

"Now Ms. Chang," Susan said. "Surely you are not questioning the doctor's word are you?"

"No Captain," Sarah said slowly, raising the blocks in her mind again. Just before she did though she picked up the Captain's surface thoughts, not scanning her, but just sensing her feelings. To her surprise the fear and hatred that had been so strong the day before where gone and in their place as almost overwhelming sense of confidence and something else Sarah couldn't quite identify. She was a little intrigued as to what would cause such a change but right now, she had other things more important to do. "I would like to investigate further though Captain," she said.

Susan looked at her quizzically. "I thought you would want to track down Mr. Anderson while the trail is still fresh," she said. "After all, every day you wait the trail gets colder."

"I will conduct both investigations at the same time," Sarah replied.

The Captain shrugged. "Whatever you think is best Ms. Chang, I will not stand in your way, unless you harass my crew unnecessarily. Then I may be forced to take action."

"Of course Captain," Sarah said. "I will keep my investigations low key, and will cause as little disruption as possible."

"Thank you," Susan replied. "Don't let me hold you up then, the quicker you get started, the quicker you get a result."

Sarah nodded, and after a pointed glance at Dr. Habbib to let him know she was going to examine his report very closely indeed, she left the bridge. Talia, who had been standing quietly next to the door turned and followed her. Susan noticed the blonde telepath looked very tired this morning, as if she had not slept well, and for once Talia did not attempt to speak to the Captain. Susan followed them with her eyes until they were out of sight and then turned back to look at the doctor.

"Can I go too Captain?" Habbib asked, wiping the sweat from his forehead with an already damp handkerchief.

"Of course," she replied. "But make sure you are free to assist Ms. Chang if she needs you help."

The doctor indicated that he would make himself available and hurried out of the room, heading for the safety of sickbay. Susan smiled faintly at his discomfort, but then realised that until yesterday she probably felt the same way about being in the Psi-Cop's presence. In a way, she still did, but somehow something had changed. Her determination had returned and she no longer felt fear at being in the presence of another telepath. She still hated Psi-Corp, but she was no longer afraid.

It had taken her several hours this morning to finally accept that what she had experienced last night had not been a dream, but rather a vision bought on by some alien creature. Somehow, it had contacted her across the vastness of space, a feat even the most powerful human telepath could not manage, and awakened something inside her. For what purpose she didn't know, but she had not sensed any malice, or other negative emotions, directed towards her by the alien.

She had not been able to detect the song the alien had shown her since, no matter how she had tried. She had tried her best, but all she could manage was to hear a few of the voices at once. She couldn't understand what they were saying, but she could feel them with her mind whenever she concentrated hard enough. Susan wondered if this was similar to what other telepaths felt when they scanned someone. It wasn't like what she had felt years ago when she had slipped into her mother's mind. This was different somehow, as if she was doing it another way now.

More than anything, Susan wanted to hear the beautiful song again, to hear the billions of voices all calling out at once. It wasn't something she could explain, just a feeling of peace and calm that washed over her whenever she thought about what she had experienced. It had no words, no music, but it was still a song, and one Susan could not get out of her mind. Her memories of the song were growing weaker as the hours passed, but every time she recalled it the same feeling of calm washed over her and she was filled with strength of purpose unlike anything she had felt before.

It reminded Susan a little of the way she steeled herself before battle, putting aside all other thoughts and concentrating only on what was important, her fighter, and the enemy. This was similar, but different. It was as if by recalling the song, she was putting aside all her fears and worries and concentrating instead on what she had to do, only on what actually mattered. She could only hope now that she could continue to recall it. She liked being this way, unafraid and powerful. It reminded her of the way she had been on Babylon 5 in the year before everything had started to go wrong.

Then she had been strong, determined, and not about to let anything get in her way. Later, during the Shadow War and the Civil War, she had let events around her carry her along from day to day. Then, after the wars were over the truth of what she had been through had been too much to bear and she had fled, seeking to escape her memories. Now she was again beginning to feel some of that control returning. She didn't know what exactly the alien sought from her, or why it had chosen her, but inside she felt the strength of her soul and knew that, no matter what the creature wanted, it was helping her.

Leaning back in her chair, and propping her feet up on the console in front of her, Susan began to hum a soft, gentle tune, much to the surprise of everyone else on the bridge. Susan didn't notice their stares though she was too busy listening to the song that flowed in her head. Her mind followed the song and reached out around her. She could feel two strong voices nearby, Talia and Chang probably, and beyond there were others, telepaths working on the planet below, and others even more distant. Susan soon forgot about them though, letting her mind drift and remember just the beauty the alien had shown her.

* * *

Talia rubbed her forehead as she tried to ease the pain she still felt there, a dull throbbing hidden somewhere in the back of her mind. She felt a faint tingle that was similar to what she felt when someone was scanning her, and reached out with her mind, looking for the source. There was nothing there, but, for a brief second, the nightmare she had experienced last night returned. She didn't remember much, just a faint recollection of an alien creature with mountainous teeth, and a body that blocked out the light. The blonde telepath shuddered slightly, a faint twinge of fear running through her. It soon passed though and she resumed her watch.

The Psi-Cop had left Talia to guard the door of her quarters while inside she was making a call to Mars. Talia wasn't really interested in playing watch dog so amused herself by creating nightmares to plague the weak, pitiful personality hiding somewhere deep within her mind. To her surprise, the resistance she felt was stronger than usual. She smiled. _'You can not resist me forever sister,'_ she thought. _'Soon I will find where you are hiding and crush you for the last time. Then there will only be me, as it was meant to be.'_

The other personality did not reply, but then Talia did not expect it to. Bored with that game, she looked across the hall toward a trolley one of the maintenance staff had left behind when she had ordered him to leave. Reaching out with her mind, she grasped an electronic cutter with her telekinetic powers and lifted it off the cart. She started it spinning, and then to keep her abilities sharp she gently pushed the on/off switch making the narrow beam of energy flash as it spun faster and faster. The light amused her for a while, relieving her boredom while she waited for the Psi-Cop to return from making her call.

Inside Sarah Chang was busy discussing her findings with her boss on Mars. "It looks like the doctor could be correct Sir," she was saying. " But I would like to make sure."

On the screen, Bester nodded. "Yes Ms. Chang, so do I. Amanda Taylor might have only been a P3, but she was one of my better agents. I want no stone left unturned in your investigation of her death. If someone did murder her, then I want that person found and bought down. Scan whoever you have to, but I want to know for sure."

"Yes Sir," she replied, before hesitating for a second. "I am not sure Captain Ivanova will like that though," she said cautiously, not wanting to upset Bester.

"Tell her to speak to me if she complains," Bester replied, his voice conveying his determination. "I don't care how she feels about it. It is about time she learned that telepaths do not have to obey every whim of mundanes. Threaten her if you have to, but make sure she doesn't get in the way."

Sarah nodded. "Why does she hate us so?" she asked. "I don't understand the hatred I felt from her. It was irrational."

Bester nodded. "I have found Ivanova to be a very irrational person when it comes to her hatred for telepaths. She blames the Corps for the suicide of her mother and me personally for... other things. Every time I go near her I have the distinct impression that she wants to kill me."

Sarah shook her head sadly. "I feel sorry for her. Perhaps there is something I can do, to ease her pain?"

"I wouldn't try if I were you Ms. Chang," Bester said. "If she thought you were messing with her mind she would probably order you spaced. Her record shows several incidents of hatred, and even violence towards telepaths, although nothing that would get her into any trouble with the authorities, at least not yet."

Sarah nodded, before changing the topic back to matters that were more important that Ivanova's feelings towards her kind. "What about Anderson?" she asked. "Do you still want me to try and find him as well?"

Bester nodded. "Yes," he said. "I don't expect you to have much luck, but I want any leads investigated while you are looking into Dr. Taylor's death."

"Yes Sir."

"Do you have any leads yet?" Bester asked. "On either matter?"

"Not yet sir," she replied. "I am still looking over the report. From what I can see Dr. Habbib appears to be correct in his findings, although there is one other possibility."

"And that is?"

"Someone with telekinetic abilities might be able to achieve the same result." Sarah looked pointedly at the door leading out of the room. "Someone with powers like Ms. Winters perhaps."

Bester shook his head. "She could not possibly have been responsible. Apart from the fact that she only seems capable of manipulating macro objects, she is also one hundred percent loyal to Psi-Corp and could never kill another telepath. I made sure of that part of her programming myself after they bought her in."

Sarah nodded in acceptance. "I guess that either leaves Dr. Habbib's findings then, or maybe something we are still overlooking."

"Keep looking Ms. Chang," Bester urged. "I want every possibility checked out before you close the book on this case. Send the doctor's report to me and I will have some of the researchers here check out possibilities for you."

"Yes Sir," Sarah replied, pulling the data crystal out of the pad and sliding it into the reader in front of her. The system on the Rasputin was a little different than she was used to, but it took only moment or two for her to attach the report to the signal and send it to Bester's office.

"Good," he said, as he watched the information appear on his screen. "I will leave you to continue your investigation now. I have found something interesting here on Mars, so I will continue my search here. If you find out anything further, either about Anderson or Dr. Taylor let me know. Do not worry about the time of day or anything stupid like that, I need to know as soon as possible if you find anything."

"Yes Sir," Sarah said again as the screen went black, the link to Mars terminated by Bester. She sighed, realising that she had a lot of work in front of her. This was going to be a tougher job than she had originally thought, but if successful then she would have Bester's thanks and that would get her a long way in the Psi-Corps. Eager to begin, she collected Talia from outside her quarters and dragged her off towards sickbay. She had a few things that she needed to discuss with Dr. Habbib before she began her investigation into Anderson's disappearance.

* * *

**10:34, February 17,  
2262.**

"And the last thing on the list is the testing of our new weapons systems," Petrov said, reading from a data pad on the table in front of him. "We still haven't had completed a successful field test of the particle cannons yet. Lieutenant-Commander Dreyer says he will look into it, so hopefully he can come up with something we can use for target practice. Everything else is running well though, all things considered."

Susan nodded in agreement. The past two days had been very busy, as she had put the Rasputin and her crew through a long series of tests and drills to ensure they were ready for anything that might arise. After all, the Rasputin was a new warship with a new, and in some cases inexperienced, crew. To Susan's surprise, the drills had gone quite well, with the only exception being the crew assigned to the main gun who had missed all but three of the holographic drones that were meant to represent enemy fighters.

"Good," Susan said. "When you get back to the Rasputin, tell Lt. Commander Dreyer that I want to see him later to speak about the problem with that cannon crew. Also, see if you can't get Dr. Kozlowski to have a look at the targeting systems, there may be something he can do. While we can run everything from the bridge if necessary, I'd prefer to have a full gunnery crew on station in any combat situation."

"Will do Captain," her second in command replied, making a quick note on the data pad. "I am not sure there is much they can do though. The particle cannon's targeting system appears to be too slow to track and fire on enemy fighters that might pass in front of our bow. Large ships like destroyers it would have no trouble at all, but fighters are just too quick and manoeuvrable for it."

"I know Commander," Susan conceded. "I wanted to see if we couldn't upgrade it a little though. That incident with the raiders made me wonder if the Rasputin had enough anti-fighter defences."

"Well the new model interceptors should be enough," Petrov said. "They are around thirty percent more efficient than the last model."

"True, but if we were attacked by a similar number raiders as last time then we could still be in trouble." Susan paused and sipped the glass of fruit juice that had been sitting in front of her. "How did the fighter drills go this morning? As I was called down to the surface for this meeting, I haven't had a chance to check up on them yet."

"A lot better than I expect Captain. I don't think we have anything to worry about there."

Susan agreed and looked down at the green liquid in her glass, considering the last two days. A new spirit of confidence and determination had filled her and the weariness that had been her constant companion for the past few years began to fade. Renewed, she had thrown herself and the Rasputin's crew into the drills, eager to have everything running as well as it could. To her surprise, the crew had taken to the drill like ducks to water and submerged themselves into the work. Even Petrov, who always worried about the smallest details, seemed happy, well at least as happy as he could be.

Not that everything was going her way; she would have worried if it had. While the Rasputin's crew were working out well, even beginning to become something of a team, her attempts to try discover her telepathic abilities had met with almost total failure. Susan had tried, but so far had been unable to do anything she knew telepaths were supposed to be able to do. In fact, she was starting to doubt that she had any abilities at all, apart from those she had already discovered years ago.

She could block casual scans, detect when someone was scanning her and if touching another telepath could scan their surface, but she did not seem to have any abilities beyond that. The alien creature had told her in her dream, or vision, that she had the potential, but as far as Susan was concerned, that potential wasn't likely to ever show itself. Perhaps she was afraid of what she might find, but Susan was more of the opinion that it wasn't there at all.

"Captain," Petrov said again, cutting into her musings.

Susan blinked and looked up from her drink. "Sorry, what was that Commander?"

"I just asked if I could authorise shore leave for the fighter pilots and anyone else not involved in the test today. It might improve morale. Not that there is any morale problem at the moment of course."

After considering this for a moment, Susan shook her head. "No," she replied. "I don't want any animosity between the pilots and the rest of the crew. There was a lot of that on Babylon 5, with some of the pilots thinking they were above the rest of the crew. Keep the fighter pilots out there training if you can. Get Lieutenant-Commander Schmitt to design some new drills or something if he is having trouble keeping them busy. I want the crew to work as a team, so no one gets shore leave until everyone has completed the drills successfully. And tell him that if he can't come up with something to keep his pilots busy, I'm certain I can."

"Yes Captain," Petrov said. Susan wasn't sure if he agreed with her or not. He did however mark down her orders on his data pad. "I will speak to Lieutenant-Commander Schmitt when I get back to the Rasputin."

"You might want to get going now then Commander," Susan suggested. "The shuttle is waiting on the landing strip, and as I didn't know how long the meeting with President Mitrovic was going to take, I didn't set a departure time. Of course, had I know that the only reason he wanted to speak to us was so he could ask use for his pilots to drill with ours, I wouldn't have come. I think next time I'll check first, those sorts of things can be discussed over the link. Anyway, you take the shuttle, I'll be along later."

"What about you?" Petrov asked. "Won't you need a shuttle as well?"

"I have a few other things I want to do first," she replied. "Send it back down when you get back."

"Well I will see you back on the Rasputin then Captain," Petrov said getting to his feet. "Do you want me to take charge of the drills until you get back?"

"That would probably be best Commander," Susan said with a nod. "I don't know how long I will be. "

Petrov nodded and smiled, then after saying goodbye headed off across the market to catch the transport out to the shuttle landing field. The small cafe they had chosen for their late breakfast was situated just outside the parkland that surrounded the Colonial Administration Building, and because few people ever went to visit the President or the rest of the Proxima government it was nice and quiet. That had meant that they had been able to sit and discuss recent events without being disturbed, which had pleased Susan no end.

Susan put aside the fruit drink she had ordered and stretched. Looking down at her link, she was a little shocked by the time they had been at the cafe. She was a little annoyed with President Mitrovic for keeping her away from the ship for so long. There were many drills to complete before she would be happy with the crew's performance and the readiness of her vessel. After paying for her drink, she walked towards the plaza that led to the dome's shopping centre.

Reagan Dome was built in a circular pattern with the strut that held up the entire structure as the centre point. Built around that was the gothic Colonial Administration Building, followed by a small strip of parkland and a few other government buildings and some small cafes. Then came the plaza Susan was walking across now. It appeared to be made of a local stone, which was a little uncommon for Earth designed structures that usually tended to be constructed entirely of stronger composite materials. Still the rough surface of the stone gave the plaza a feeling of age and history, remind Susan a little of some of the old streets she had walked down during her brief visit to her home town of St. Petersburg earlier this year.

As Susan walked slowly though the main market of Reagan Dome, enjoying the sights and sounds around her, she realised that the past two days had been better than any she had experienced in a long time. The song the alien had shown her was fading now, but if she concentrated as hard as she could she could just pick up its faint echoes. At least, thanks to the alien's assistance, she had been able to restore her determination to face down her fears, and problems. This was part of why she found herself deciding to make a short visit to the market after her visit with the President today.

Back on Babylon 5, her quarters had always been well appointed with paintings and several plants that she had cared for. On the Rasputin though, the walls and shelves were still bare. There was no sense of home about it. Susan was beginning to look increasingly on the Rasputin as her new home, at least for now. For four years Babylon 5 had been her home, her family, and she had never thought to replace that. The past two days though had made her think differently about the ship.

She still didn't like the idea of the Shadow technology that was powering it, but for the most part that was hidden beneath the surface. It did not protrude into her life, and although she knew it always there, she had slowly grown used to the idea. It still reminded her of the Shadows and the destroyers that had nearly taken her life, but there was no malice in the Rasputin. The modified Omega destroyers she had faced in the Whitestars had been horrible, spiked vessels, almost radiating an aura of fear. The Rasputin was not like this, and its silver hull could not look more different, reflecting light instead of drawing it in.

All of this, the changes of feelings, and the awakening of something within her, had led Susan to make a quick trip into the market today. She didn't know quite what she was looking for, but needed something to brighten up her quarters. She hadn't spent a lot of time there yet, but if it was going to be her new home then at least it had to look like it. Already, on the way into the President's office, she had bought a large lizard-skin rug for her lounge room. While she normally didn't like the idea of owning something that was once part of a living creature, the brilliant mosaic of colours had caught her eye and she had been unable to avoid purchasing it. Petrov had also help to convince her to buy it, agreeing with her assessment that her office needed some brightening up.

Now as she walked across the plaza she was looking for a shop selling potted plants. They were probably very expensive here, anything living bought from Earth was, but she had plenty of money in her account right now. Looking around, Susan was a little surprised to very few people on the streets around her. Reagan was supposed to have a population of around three hundred thousand, but few of them seemed to be active.

Not that the number of people out shopping this morning really concerned her, there were other, more important, concerns, and most of them involving the two telepaths currently residing on her ship. One she wanted to get closer to, but the other she wanted gone, and preferably as far away as possible. Every minute the Psi-Cop was on board was another minute when there was a chance that Susan's telepathic abilities, however pathetic and weak, could be discovered. However, the Psi-Cop and Talia were a long way away, she could worry about them when she returned to the Rasputin, right now she had shopping to do.

* * *


	24. Chapter 24

* * *

Sarah Chang removed her hand from where it had rested, across Talia chest. "She has gone inside," she said. "We can continue."

Talia sighed in annoyance. "I don't know why you want to stay out of the Captain's way. Why do you care what she thinks?"

"I am trying to make things run smoothly," Sarah explained. "You must know that Captain Ivanova doesn't like telepaths. While I find that very strange and irrational it doesn't hurt to do whatever I can to try and smooth over relations."

Talia let out an exaggerated yawn. "Whatever you say," she said, sounding less than convinced. "Personally I don't see why you just don't go and demand her immediate cooperation. That way we could get this silly investigation over and done with a lot quicker. These endless interviews with Proxima's telepaths are useless as well. It is obvious that Anderson didn't have anything to do with them."

Now Sarah was becoming annoyed, although not with the investigation, but with Talia. "You job is to obey, not complain," she snapped, surprising herself with the brief burst of anger. "One of them has to know something about Anderson."

"I doubt it," Talia said. "How do you know that he even met with one of the telepaths?"

"Because the records show that he left the Rasputin for four hours on the fifth of this month, returning right before he told Captain Ivanova he was leaving to return to Mars. The question is where did he go during those four hours. My guess was down here to see someone on the planet. All we have to do is find out who that was, and then we might also find out what has happened to Mr. Anderson."

"How do you know he didn't just have an accident in Hyperspace?" Talia asked. "I can recall a lot of vessels that have entered Hyperspace and never come out again."

"We know," the Psi-Cop replied.

"How," Talia pressed.

"That is not your concern," Sarah replied, before a frown crossed her face. "In fact, none of this is your concern. You are supposed to be my assistant, not my interrogator. So assist and don't question me again."

Talia smiled faintly as the Psi-Cop marched off toward the home of the next telepath they were going to interview. She enjoyed these little games, as they kept her from becoming bored. She eyed the shop Ivanova had entered for several seconds, before walking slowly after Sarah, not wanting to appear too eager to follow the Psi-Cop's orders. She might be loyal to Psi-Corps, but that didn't mean she was going to act like a puppy dog and follow every order the much younger woman gave her.

For a brief second, she even thought about going onto the shop to annoy Captain Ivanova instead, but the Captain had been showing a lot more resistance to her taunts of late, so that probably wouldn't get her anywhere. Instead, she turned back towards the Psi-Cop who was waiting a little way down the street, tapping her foot in annoyance. T alia smiled innocently and walked over to Sarah's side, trying to look eager, something she failed at completely.

* * *

President John Sheridan of the Interstellar alliance looked annoyed as he read the report he had been given. "This is all you received?" he asked the ranger who stood before him.

"I am afraid so," the ranger replied. "The message was cut short before it ended."

"This doesn't tell us much," Sheridan said looking at the screen, where the message was displayed.

"We are under attack by an unknown force, s..." was all the entire message had said before being cut off by a burst of static. The sender of the message was Ranger Harrison, the current commander of Whitestar 85, one of two vessels that were currently overdue at the rendezvous near Drazi space. The ship was obviously in trouble, as both men in the office could see the bright sparks of exploding panels in the background.

Sheridan sighed. "There is not much we can do I am afraid. This situation with the Enphili has forced us to commit all of our forces; we don't have any spare ships to send to investigate this attack yet. What did Earthforce say?"

"That they will look into the matter. No specifics though."

"Then there is little else we can do," Sheridan said firmly. "We can not go storming off into Earth's territory without a good reason. While you and I might consider this a good reason, it is Earth's responsibility as it happened in their territory. Whoever might have been responsible we can only hope that Earth can deal with them."

* * *

"Just leave everything over there, Crewman," Susan said, pointing towards a spot on the floor just inside her quarters. The crewman nodded once and carefully lowered the packages she had purchased on Proxima down onto the floor, trying not upset the Captain in her quarters by spilling their contents. Then, the job done, he hurried out of the room as soon as Susan had dismissed him.

After she had set the packages she had been carrying down on her bed, she looked at those the crewman had carried from the shuttle for her. It wasn't until that moment that she realised how much she had actually bought. She had originally intended on buying nothing more than a couple of plants to sit on the shelves in her bedroom, instead she has ended up with several paintings, ten pot plants, three rugs and a large collection of other items she hadn't really wanted. The shopkeepers on Proxima though were very insistent and Susan had ended up buying a lot more than she had originally intended.

In fact, she had been a little embarrassed returning to the Rasputin weighed down with her purchases, while the crew had been slaving away all morning on a series of tiring drills designed to determine their readiness for battle. Susan wondered what that said about her readiness. She only hoped that the crew wasn't going to treat her differently now, although knowing the way things usually went, they already probably hated her and nothing she did now was going to change the situation.

Although she still had to find places to put all her new purchases, Susan scanned her computer for recent messages. Surprisingly there were only three. One was from Commander Petrov, advising her on the status of the drills. Reading it, she found it was as to the point as the rest of the Commander's work had been so far. The other two messages were from the ship's laundry telling her that both of her uniforms she had sent down there were ready to be picked up. Leaving the unpacking of her shopping for now she headed down to deck 4 to retrieve two of her uniforms from the laundry, both of which had need repairs after the what she had put them through.

* * *

"You will tell us," Sarah Chang said harshly to the figure sitting on the chair.

"Look I don't know anything," the man replied, although the beads of sweat beginning to run down his forehead betrayed the worry, or was that fear he felt. The man was a commercial telepath, and a reasonably successful one at that. He was also, as Sarah had finally been able to find out, the man the rogue Darren Anderson had been to see before leaving the Proxima system.

"You know Anderson though, don't you," Sarah demanded. "He came to see you, why was that?"

"I don't know this guy Anderson," the telepath replied. "I already told you that before."

Sarah smiled. "Indeed you did Mr. Hill, indeed you did. However, I don't believe you, and like it or not you are going to tell us."

Talia, who had been sitting quietly behind the Psi-Cop, trying to look menacing, was a little relieved as Sarah said that. She knew that the Psi-Cop could probably have wrenched the information out of the telepath's mind with little trouble at all. After all, he was only a P6, admittedly high for a commercial telepath, but nothing compared to the Psi-Cops, who were rated at least P11. Talia hoped that now they could get this silly interrogation over and done with. She didn't understand why Sarah just didn't use her abilities to get the information she wanted instead of trying to be kind and do things the mundane way.

"Ms. Winters," Sarah called. "Hold him still please."

With a slightly evil smile Talia extended her will and used her telekinetic abilities to hold Hill rigid, so he couldn't evade the Psi-Cops hands while she probed him. It was difficult, he was a strong man, but her mind was stronger, at least for now. "I can hold him for only a few minutes," she said, the strain plainly visible in her voice.

Sarah nodded, and after removing her gloves placed her hands on either side of Hill's head and then closing her eyes began to probe him, gently at first, but then when he still resisted with all her will. "You are… an agent of his," Sarah said slowly, dragging each titbit of information out, a piece at a time. Beneath her hands, still held tightly by Talia's mental powers, David Hill began to sweat, realising that he couldn't keep anything secret any more. His mind soon gave up any resistance and information flooded out into Sarah's possession.

"Yes," the Psi-Cop breathed. "That's it, tell me everything you know."

Hill was unable to resist any more and the information she sought was soon found. "Good," Sarah said releasing Hill, and allowing him to flop down unconscious on the floor. She smiled. "Well Mr. Anderson, what are you up to?" she asked no one in particular as she replace her gloves on her hands.

"Did you find anything interesting," Talia asked from her seat by the door.

"Plenty," the Psi-Cop replied. "Come, we have work to do."

She then swept out of the door, leaving the unconscious telepath lying sprawled across the floor. With only a brief glance in Hill's direction Talia followed, this time a little more eagerly.

* * *

Susan looked suspiciously at the data crystal the crewmen working in the laundry had found in the pocket of her uniform along with the rock sphere Kozlowski had lost when he had bumped into her giving her this very data crystal. She had arranged for the stone to be returned to him and then returned to her own quarters to see just what sort of research Dr. Kozlowski thought he had been conducting for her. Putting the crystal into the reader in her bedroom, Susan left it to play while she worked out where to put her new pot plants.

A little surprised there were no voice or sound Susan turned back to the screen and read what the doctor had written.

Captain,

I have gathered the information you required regarding the criminal treatment technique known commonly as the Mindwipe. I am not that familiar with the telepathic and Metapsionic sciences, however this file should answer most of your questions.

Dr. Nathan Kozlowski

NOTE: I have made kept this introduction fairly general so anyone, even those not versed in Metapsionic Telepathic Lobotomies (myself included) can still understand it. However, I have also attached to this file several essays from recent issues of the Psi-Corps Journal on the subject, as well as five research papers by Dr. Eric Portman, the leading researcher into the technique.

'So this is what he meant by research,' Susan thought. She thought back to the very brief conversation that she had with the doctor in the fighter bay what seemed like weeks ago. She shook her head, amazed that Kozlowski would spend so much time gathering information for her, especially seeing she had never asked him too. Still she wasn't about to pass up an opportunity to find out all she could, especially after the doctor had spent the time to do the research for her. Eagerly she turned back to the screen and began to read the rest of the file, hoping that Dr. Kozlowski knew as much about this subject as he seemed to know about everything else.

* * *

Anderson handed over the report to Kiel, who was at his usual post on the Enlightener's bridge. In fact, since they had left Arisia 3, he hardly ever seemed to leave it any more as the warship moved ever closer to its next target. The Earth Alliance base may still have been more than two days travel away but Kiel was anxiously looking forward to the coming attack.

"Interesting," the former Psi-Cop said after skipping through the report. "Well I don't think Sheridan will make much of that message." He looked up at his assistant. "Are you sure that is all they managed to send?"

"That was all we monitored, their ship exploded right after so I think we can safely assume that the Interstellar alliance still doesn't know of our existence."

Kiel nodded, and then leaned back against the soft padding of the command chair. "Good, the less people who know the better. I must admit though, I didn't think your plan would work. I mean, pretending to be dead in space, only a fool would fall for that."

"Well the Rangers must be recruiting fools then," Anderson replied with a smile. "Because both of those ships fell for it." His face turned a little more serious. "I was a little surprised it actually worked. I would have thought one look at us would have made them turn and run and, at the speed this ship moves, we wouldn't have been able to catch them."

"Instead they decided to investigate," Kiel said, returning his assistant's smile. "I can still remember their commander's words as the fighters launched at him."

"It's breaking up," Anderson said, before breaking down laughing as he remember how the two Whitestars had been destroyed. Kiel soon joined him, both laughing aloud at the humour, at least as they saw it, in the whole situation. Far behind them now, the wreckage of the two Whitestars spun slowly in space, peppered with blast marks from the fighters. Ahead, still at least another two days travel away, was another Earth Alliance outpost unaware of the danger that was slowly making its way through Hyperspace towards it.

* * *

Susan quickly scanned the rest of the information and realised that it was similar to what she already knew. Despite the doctor's best work, he had been unable to discover anything that she didn't already know. Skipping the rest of the file, she turned instead to the attached essays. The Psi-Corps articles were useless, as Susan had expected. After all it wasn't likely that Psi-Corps would want anyone else to know how their powers worked, they liked feeling superior than everyone else.

Sighing to herself, Susan turned to the last few essays, the ones by Dr. Portman. Despite her hopes, they proved as useless as the rest of the articles. It wasn't that they didn't contain useful information, she was sure they did. Susan just didn't understand anything the man had written in his essays. In fact, she was sure that probably the only person who understood everything in those essays would be Portman himself.

A little angry for allowing herself to feel hopeful, she leaned over to shut off the reader. Her hand stopped though as she realised that there was still one more file to read. For a second she hesitated, torn between reading the last file and exposing herself to more disappointment, or leaving and possibly passing up one last chance. Susan then surprised even herself and opened the last file, sitting back down to read the title of the document.

TELEPATHIC & METAPSIONIC TECHNIQUES

Reading on, Susan realised that this document contained a long list of abilities that were available to Earth's telepaths. While it was very useful, in fact, she wondered exactly where Kozlowski had found it; it did little to raise her hopes. In fact looking down the entire list, she felt her hopes dropping with every sentence she read. Out of the abilities listed, the only power she was certain she possess was the ability to hear the thoughts of other telepaths, and occasionally scan someone else, but only when they were actually touching her. In fact, based on what was in the file her powers barely even rated a P1.

Sighing in disappointment, she turned off the reader and took out the data crystal, not even reading the second part of the file on theoretical abilities, instead just tossing the crystal into one of the drawers beneath her bed with the data crystals Garibaldi had sent her. She was about to shut the drawer again when she noticed the one of the other crystals, the one with the Vorlon markings on it.

Picking it up, Susan looked at it for a second wondering if there had been a problem with the reader last time she had tried to access its contents. She paused, again torn about her action, and then deciding that giving it just one more attempt wouldn't hurt her. It wasn't that she was optimistic about it's contents, but something told her that there was more to the data crystal that she thought, otherwise why would Garibaldi have sent it to her.

When the same screen of static came up again, she considered quite seriously calling up Babylon 5 and asking him just why he had sent it to her, but instead just sighed and lay back against the bed, cursing god and everyone else she could think of. She had been so hopeful when she had first looked at the information on Dr. Kozlowski's data crystal that she might have found the key to freeing Talia, but she had allowed herself to hope for no reason.

It was frustrating more than anything else. Talia was here, on her ship, and somewhere hidden, who knows where, there was a key that would unlock her mind and return the woman she loved. "It would be so much easier if it were a medical problem," she said aloud. "If we could just see her thoughts on the screen and fix the problem."

Susan suddenly stopped and sat up, staring at the static filled screen in front of her. "On the screen," she said looking at it. She closed her eyes and reached out with her mind, weak though her telepathic powers might be. To her surprise the images came back powerful and strong, a collection of fear and terrors. Despite what she was witnessing Susan felt joy, she knew what the thoughts were.

Once, shortly before Talia had been taken from her, the telepath had told her of an incident with Ambassador Kosh, how he had recorded her thoughts. This was that recording, a record of everything that Talia, and the false personality currently inhabiting her mind, feared. New possibilities filling her thoughts, Susan removed the data crystal and put it aside, retrieving the one Kozlowski had sent her. Somewhere in all that had to be a clue on what to do.

* * *

Talia stopped for a moment and looked around confused. She had felt something strange as she had climbed down the ladder from the shuttle, something that left her a little frightened. She frowned. She hadn't been frightened before, the old Talia had, but not her. The new and improved Talia didn't fear anything.

"What is wrong now," Sarah asked, her voice leaving Talia in no doubt that the Psi-Cop was getting really annoyed.

Normally Talia would have been pleased with the reaction she was getting from the Psi-Cop, but for some reason she now felt concerned more than anything. "Nothing," she snarled at Sarah as she stalked past the Psi-Cop, her mind scanning around the shuttle bay, trying to find the source of the sudden sensation of terror she had felt. There was no sign of anyone though, so if another mind had been responsible they were now out of range of her telepathic abilities.

"Come on then," Sarah said. "I want to see if the Captain knows anything about what we have discovered."

Talia nodded slowly and turned to follow, her mind still searching for the source of whoever or whatever had filled her thoughts with fear. For a brief moment she thought it might have been the old personality that still dwelt within her, but the old Talia was still as elusive as ever and had it been her then she would have repeated it, trying to get back at her for all the pain Talia had caused her.

Seeing the Psi-Cop looking impatiently at her again, Talia decided to leave off her search and forget about the incident for now. However, she was on the look out now, and if it happened again she would teach whoever was responsible a lesson they would not forget, or recover from.

* * *

It took Susan another hour to find the reference she had been looking for, but at last, she had it. She had the key she needed to restore Talia's personality. All she needed to do was break down the current personalities strength, and then when it was weak enough, the real personality should be able to return. She had the key at last.

Or rather, she would have one if she had a telepath who could enter Talia's mind and carry the thoughts on the data crystal with them. A P12 might be able to do it, but Susan, barely even a P1, had no chance. Certainly, she had a key, but her mind was not powerful enough to turn it, and she could hardly ask anyone from Psi-Corp to assist her. Disgusted she tossed the two data crystals into the back of the drawer and slammed it shut.

Then she stormed off, out of her quarters. She had never felt such frustration before. To know that she had within her grasp something that could save the woman she loved, only she was not strong enough to use it was one the hardest things Susan had ever had to accept. She didn't want to accept it, but knew that baring a miracle, or a friendly Psi-Cop, if such a thing existed, all she had were two useless data crystals.

* * *

Susan looked around the conference room; amazed this was the first time she had actually been here. When the Warlock class destroyers were designed they were created to be a fleet command vessel, and this meant there were several extra features that were not common on the other, smaller, destroyers. One of these extras was the conference room that had been set aside for meetings between captain's of other vessels and the Rasputin's commander. Susan hadn't known of its existence though until Commander Petrov had said they should meet here instead of her office.

Actually, Susan would have preferred her office, but she was aware that it was probably too small to hold all the command staff comfortably, so had agreed. The conference room was a lot larger than she had imagined when Petrov had mentioned it. Located at the far end of the command deck it took up about as much room as her quarters and office combined. It was dominated by a large metal table and the ring of chairs that surround it, but Susan also noticed the holographic displays that covered the walls, some just showing space outside, but other showing important readouts from various ship's sensors.

As no one else was there when she arrived, Susan took a seat at the head of the table and idly watched the slowly rotating planet pass by on the ceiling display. After ten minutes of waiting, the rest of the command staff had arrived, taking up seats around the table. "Right," Susan said after everyone had arrived. "I thought we might just have a quick discussion about the results of today's drills. Lieutenant-Commander Schmitt, perhaps you would like to lead off."

"Certainly Captain," the flight commander replied enthusiastically. He pulled out a data pad from beneath the table, where it had been resting on his legs, and began to read from it. "All drills were passed successfully within the required parameters. Alpha squadron had the best score with a ninety nine percent kill rate and no causalities on their part."

"That is good," Susan agreed, cutting into his speech. "What were the..."

"Captain," a voice from the door suddenly called out loudly, cutting of the rest of the conversation.

Susan swung around and looked at Sarah Chang with a frown. "What do you want Ms. Chang," she demanded. "We are in the middle of an important meeting here."

"It can wait," the Psi-Cop replied. "I have important questions of my own."

"Well I think they can wait," Susan said, in a tone that showed quite clearly how annoyed she was at the interruption.

"I am afraid they can't Captain," Sarah told her. "I need answers for these at once. And the sooner you help me out here the sooner I can be out of your way."

Susan sighed, admitting defeat and waving the telepath towards a seat at the table. "Very well Ms. Chang, ask away."

Sarah nodded and took a seat opposite before beginning to explain what she wanted. "I have discovered something important," she told the collection of officers. "It seems Mr. Anderson took an unscheduled journey down to the planet below shortly before his alleged trip to Mars."

"Well I didn't know that," Susan said. "Of course Mr. Anderson was not in the habit of informing me or anyone else of his activities. He reminds me a little of you in that way Ms. Chang."

Looking a little annoyed at the interruption, Sarah glared at Susan as if to remind that the affairs of the Psi-Corps were not her concern and then she continued her explanation. "Had you checked the shuttle bay logs you would have been able to find that out Captain. However, that doesn't matter for now. What does matter is the fact that he met with someone in Reagan Dome, a commercial teep named David Hill. I have spoken to this Mr. Hill and he told me that Anderson was going to some place he called Project A3."

A look of recognition passed over Susan face, something that did not pass unnoticed by the Psi-Cop. "You know the location of Project A3 Captain?" she asked.

Susan nodded. "I may do Ms. Chang," she answered. "I believe it could be the planet Arisia 3, somewhere along the border with Narn space." As she spoke, she noticed Major Logan looking on with sudden interest, and then remembered that the Major had said she would look into the whole matter of the Arisia 3 for her. For a moment, Susan thought about telling the Psi-Cop that, but decided not to at the last minute. If the Major didn't volunteer any information, Susan wasn't going to ask her to, especially not to a Psi-Cop.

Sarah looked a little surprised by that news. "Arisia 3?" she said in a questioning tone. "I don't believe I have ever heard of that one."

"It was once home to a small colony owned by a friend of mine," Susan told her. Then she stopped for a moment and realised this was the first time she had thought of Marcus for days. She glanced up at Talia who was standing quietly by the door watching proceedings, and wondered if the telepath's presence was the reason.

"Did this friend of yours tell you anything about the world Captain?" Sarah pressed.

Susan shook her head. "I didn't even know anything about it at all until a couple of weeks ago. I believe it was a mining world, Quantium-40 probably. It is in the database anyway, you should be able to find out anything you desire from that."

"Thank you Captain," the Psi-Cop replied. "I believe I may have enough information to find Mr. Anderson now. If you will excuse me, I will get right onto it."

"Of course Ms. Chang," Susan replied, indicating the Psi-Cop was more than welcome to leave. Then as Sarah did so, taking Talia with her, Susan turned and looked at Major Logan, a slightly questioning look on her face. The Major looked thoughtful as if considering the Psi-Cop's findings and did not seem to notice Susan's interest. Deciding to talk with Lily later, Susan turned back to face the rest of the table asking, "right, now that is over, where were we."

"You were about to ask me what targets fighters were aiming at," Alister Schmitt replied. "And I was about to tell you that they were aiming at holographic drones of Narn fighters."

"Why Narn," Susan asked.

"Well they had already defeated all the other targets, Minbari, Raider, and Centauri. Narn were the next on the list. I thought it best to test them against a variety of potential enemy targets."

Susan nodded, "sounds like the fighter pilots are ready for almost anything then Lieutenant-Commander. How about the rest of the crew."

She turned to look at Lieutenant-Commander Dreyer who was slumped in a seat across from her, the dark haired officer looking a little tired. Before she could get a reply though, her link beeped. Susan look heavenward for a moment as if to ask "what now" before tapping the receive button. "Yes what is it," she asked.

"Coded signal coming in from Earthdome on channel three Captain," the voice on the other end replied.

"Send it through then," she replied.

"Yes Captain," was the reply and then part of the back wall of the conference room changed to display a flashing message indicating that her code was required before the communication could be received. She quick typed it in on the keyboard built into the table in front of her and the screen changed to show the stern face of Admiral Mellor, current chief of operation for the outer colonies.

"Admiral Mellor," Susan said as she stood and saluted him.

"Captain Ivanova," he replied, although with no answering salute. He noticed the rest of the officers gathered. "Good the rest of your command staff is already present, that saves me having to wait while you summoned them."

"Is something the matter Admiral," Susan asked, realising that if he needed to talk to all of her command staff at once then something very bad must have happened. He was not just calling about a simple reassignment.

"Yes, Captain, something very serious indeed. It looks like there may be an unknown enemy about to invade Earth's territory. We don't have much to go on yet, just a garbled message from one of our outposts on the Narn border. However, what little we have so far has worried us greatly. Enough to order a fleet to set out and investigate exactly what is going on. If this is an invasion then we want to show a strong hand now before any more damage is done."

"What about the Interstellar Alliance," Susan asked. "Have you requested assistance from them?"

The Admiral nodded. "We have," he replied. "Unfortunately they can not be in two places at once, and their ships are currently involved in some kind of sortie near Drazi space, so they cannot assist us for a least another two weeks. President Sheridan did inform us that two of their vessels have vanished somewhere close to the outpost that was attacked. This leads us to believe an alien fleet is responsible."

"What do you want us to do then Admiral."

"We are sending a small fleet of newly repaired destroyers to Proxima. They will meet with your vessel and the two destroyers currently on patrol nearby. You will then proceed to the last known location of this enemy fleet and scout out the area. If it is discovered then it is to be destroyed. Earthdome wants to make it perfectly clear that no invaders will be tolerated inside our territory."

"Understood Admiral," Susan said, "How long until the other destroyers arrive?"

The Admiral consulted his notes. "A little over five days I believe. I will send you all the necessary information on which ships are arriving. The fleet will be under the command of Vice-Admiral Emmerton by the way."

"I know her," Susan said with a quick nod to indicate she accepted her new orders.

"Good, I will leave you to prepare then. I know your ship is only a new, untried vessel but I want it ready for combat in five days time. We need every operational destroyer and fighter we can get at the moment, until the rest of the fleet is back up to strength."

"We will do our best Admiral," Susan told him, although she was less than confident about the Rasputin's battle readiness.

"I expect nothing less," Mellor replied. "Earthdome out."

As the screen went blank, Susan sat back down in her seat and looked around at her crew. "Well looks like we have some work to do then," she told them. She looked around at each officer in turn. "We don't know for sure if this ship is going to be seeing battle, but if it is then I want everyone as ready as they can be. Those crewmen involved in drills are to continue for now, unless I say otherwise. I want everyone else busy as well, even if it is only on routine maintenance. By the time Vice-Admiral Emmerton arrives, I want this ship combat ready and it's crew raring to go."

"Yes Captain," they replied, almost as one.

"Good," she said. "You are dismissed then, I think you all have enough work to keep you busy for now. I will meet with everyone sometime tomorrow morning to discuss individual assignments, until then just continue with the drills you have been working on over the past two days."

As they all filed out of the room, Susan could not help but feel a little anxious about what was to come. If the Admiral was right and some large alien force was attacking the Earth Alliance then she would be forced to lead her vessel into battle a lot sooner than she would have liked. There were still many questions about the Rasputin's performance, which she didn't have the answers for yet. That was a problem with entering battle in an untested vessel, if even one system failed in the heat of combat, then her entire crew could face death.

She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, trying to recover some of the calm and determination that had filled her for the past two days. It seemed to elude her now though, as her mind began to worry about what was to come. Unable to gain any comfort from her inner thoughts Susan opened her eyes and left the room. There seemed to be an impossible amount of work to do if they wanted the Rasputin truly combat ready in time, but it was possible, as long as all of the crew worked together.

* * *

"Good work Ms. Chang," Bester was saying on the vid screen in Sarah Chang's quarters. "I hadn't actually expected any results from you quite so soon. That is good work indeed. Now what do you know about this planet, Arisia 3 you said it was called."

"Very little Sir," she replied. "The Captain did not seem to know much about it, except that it was once home to a small mining colony. She said it belonged to a friend of hers, but didn't give me a name."

"I could probably find that out," Bester mused. "But it is not important. The question is why are Anderson and Kiel interested in the planet. Hmm, I have the information about it up here on my screen right now and from what this says it was fairly standard class 4 world, with poor to average quantities of Quantium-40 and high levels of other minerals. Nothing to get excited about though, I could probably find a hundred other world of more value."

"All I know is that Anderson's contact on Proxima knew about something called Project A3, but did not know any of the details. I am assuming that A3 is Arisia 3, and this is also what Ivanova suspects."

"Is there anything else Mr. Hill remembered of interest?" Bester asked.

"Only that Anderson was paying him a lot of money to watch movements of Earth Alliance troops on Proxima and also there was something about a package."

"A package."

"Yes," she replied. "That was why Anderson went to see him, to pick up a sealed package that had been sent to him from Centauri Prime. Hill didn't know what it was except that whatever it was Anderson thought it was important."

"Interesting," Bester murmured. "I wonder what was inside."

"I am afraid that knowledge is known only to Mr. Anderson Sir," Sarah said.

Bester looked at her and smiled. "Then you will just have to ask him won't you now."

"Sir?"

Bester's smile faded and he turned serious again. "I think you should check out Arisia 3 to see what is there."

"But Sir, what if Anderson and Kiel have defences of some kind. My shuttle isn't going to be much use if they are in a armed vessel."

"I am aware of that Ms. Chang," Bester said. "I was thinking you should take a warship. The Rasputin isn't doing anything at the moment is it?"

"No Sir," she replied. "But Captain Ivanova isn't going to agree to that."

"Do not worry about Ivanova," Bester told her. "I will organise things with Earthdome. While I would actually prefer to use our own resources for this, some of the others in Psi-Corps do not seem to see Mr. Kiel as the threat he is. Therefore, we will have to use an Earthforce vessel. At least this Arisia 3 planet is inside Earth's territory so we can investigate without raising any interest from the alien governments or Sheridan's alliance. If it had been outside Earth's sphere of influence it would be a lot more difficult to organise assistance from Earthdome."

"Yes Sir," Sarah replied.

"You can go and see Ivanova tomorrow and tell her your are requisitioning her vessel for Psi-Corp use. If she complains then tell her to call Earthdome and confirm the orders. Then get to Arisia 3 as soon as possible and find out exactly what Anderson is doing there. Is that understood?"

Seeing Sarah nod in confirmation Bester looked pleased and said, "Good. I still have a few details to check on here, not to mention other matters to take care of, or I would come and join you personally."

"Have you discovered anything interesting, Sir," Sarah asked, eager to know all the details of the investigation.

"Nothing that concerns you yet, Ms. Chang. I will fill you in on your return; assuming Kiel doesn't have an entire fleet out there waiting for you, although I think that would be unlikely. He is planning something, but doesn't have the resources to pull off anything major. As soon as you complete the investigation on Arisia 3 return to Proxima and I will meet you there."

"Are you coming here, Sir?"

Bester nodded. "Yes Ms. Chang I am. As soon as I am finished up here I would like to have a few words with Mr. Hill, to explain to him the consequences of dealing with enemies of Psi-Corps."

Sarah didn't think that Hill actually knew that Anderson was an enemy of Psi-Corps, as officially he wasn't. She almost felt sorry for the commercial telepath, realising that by the time Bester was finished with him he was going to wish he had never ever heard of Darren Anderson.

"Is there anything else to report?" Bester asked her. "Something about the death of Dr. Taylor perhaps."

"Not yet Sir," Sarah replied. "I am still investigating that matter."

"Very well Ms. Chang," Bester said. "Continue to do so while you are on your way to Arisia 3 and report to me anything interesting that you find. Bester out."

With that final comment, the screen went black and Sarah was left to herself again. Sighing to herself, she stood up and looked at the time displayed on the screen. It was late, too late for her to go and see the Captain tonight. Besides, it would take time for Bester to organise everything with Earthdome for the temporary loan of the Rasputin and her crew to Psi-Corps. She had never heard of anything like that happening before, realising for the first just how much Bester must hate Kiel, and just how much influence the other Psi-Cop had gained among the upper echelons of Earthforce.

She hadn't heard anything much about Harvey Kiel when she had been in training, only that he was an important telepath who was aiding President Clark. He was now high up on the wanted list of former Clark advisers who had fled after the president had committed suicide. Psi-Corps had protected its members though, and Kiel had found some protection on Mars. The first Sarah had learnt about him was when she was assigned to watch him by Bester shortly after becoming the Psi-Cop's assistant. Most of the time, the renegade seemed to do little more than tend to his garden.

In her mind that didn't make someone a renegade, but Bester obviously knew what he was doing. Sarah was too tired now to think about it too much though. Scanning Hill had taken a lot out of her and putting up with Talia Winters all day had been a trial as well. For some reason, her assistant had taken an immediate disliking to her and spent most of the time trying to make her life a misery. Sarah would not have minded so much if she knew the reason for the hatred, but the blonde telepath's mind was closed to her. She could sense the other woman's surface thoughts, but Talia could block any probes that tried to go further with almost no trouble at all. Sarah wondered how Talia had come to possess such powerful mental blocks, wondering if perhaps that was why Anderson had bought her here in the first place.

There was something going on her that was outside her knowledge. Ms. Winters was possibly the best suspect for the murder of Bester's agent, but for some reason Bester did not even consider it a possibility. All of it was more than a little suspicious to Sarah and she suspected that she was nothing more than a pawn in a much larger game, the rules of which she couldn't even comprehend.

* * *

Back on Mars, Bester had spent hours busy calling in every favour he could with Earthforce officials to allow Sarah to use the Rasputin for the mission to the Arisia system. He had even been forced to threaten blackmail to a couple of officers, but finally he had been able to secure the ship for five days. It wasn't a lot, but it was all that Earthforce was willing to give right now. Everyone in Earthdome appeared to be worried about a possible invasion by an alien fleet and it had taken all his persuasion skills to get even those five days.

That done, he returned to other matters. His investigations on Mars had gone well, especially into the matter of Kiel's two dead agents. To his surprise, both of their deaths had closely involved Ivanova. The first, the agent who had died on Mars High, had been present during the short gun battle where Ivanova had been shot at and nearly killed in an explosion. However, the cause of death still wasn't confirmed, and despite his best efforts, no body had been found.

That led him to believe that Kiel must have sent his agent to kill someone on the station, and then after the death of the telepath involved had disposed of the body to hide the evidence of his involvement. That didn't explain why Ivanova was involved and, despite the official statement that she had nothing to do with the target of the gunmen, he wasn't too sure. Unfortunately, the chief of security on the station had been less that co-operative and short of doing a deep scan on the man, Bester wasn't going to find out anything else there.

The body of the second agent had been recovered so badly decayed due to exposure that not much could be learned. He found it interesting that it had been put down by the local security as a Mafia killing, something about the Martian Mafia wanting him dead because he was cheating at the gambling tables. Bester wasn't sure if he believed that and, with further digging, had found out that the telepath had in fact been in New Vegas to see Ivanova. Which led to the question: why?

While he didn't think that there was anything going on between Ivanova and Kiel, she just wasn't the type to get involved with telepaths, and certainly not a former Psi-Cop. However, Bester had come to believe that the Rasputin's captain knew a lot more than she was telling Chang. He had considered taking a shuttle to Proxima to question her himself, but there were still other matters to take care of here on Mars, and that would have to wait for another few days until the Rasputin returned from Arisia 3. If they found Kiel and Anderson then everything would be all right, if not then he would have some serious questions to ask Ivanova about her involvement in the whole affair.

Bester paused in his thoughts and glanced at the framed picture sitting on his desk. A faint twinge of sadness welled up in him as he looked at Carolyn's image. Despite the best efforts of the medical staff in the Psi-Corps headquarters on Earth, they still hadn't been able to remove all the shadow technology that had been inserted into her skull. They were close, and constantly promised that it would only take another few days, but they still hadn't been able to do it, at least not so that the subject would survive intact.

Making a silent promise that Kiel would pay for what he had done to Carolyn, Bester rose and left his office. It may be still only early morning here on Mars but he had work to do. Somewhere, either here on Mars or Arisia 3, was the secret to Kiel's plans and he intended on finding that secret, and making sure that Kiel never lived to threaten someone he loved ever again.

* * *


	25. Chapter 25

* * *

**07:56, February 18, 2262.**

"What do you want," Susan demanded. Having been warned moments earlier by one of her bridge crew that the Psi-Cop was looking for her, she didn't even bother to look up as Sarah had entered her office. Susan had been busy with some vital paperwork and was not in the mood to speak with the Psi-Cop this morning.

"I need to discuss an important matter with you Captain," Sarah replied, taking one of the three seats on the other side of the Captain's desk. Then she hesitated, wondering how Susan had known who had entered her room when the Captain had still been occupied with the pile of reports on her desk.

"And what might that be Ms. Chang?" Susan said, still not looking up from her work. "Do you need more information about Arisia 3, because if you do I have already told you everything I know about that world."

"No, it is not that Captain," Sarah answered, sounding more than a little hesitant to continue further.

Susan looked up at last from the report she was reading and glared at the telepath. "Well, what is it then?"

The Psi-Cop hesitated a while longer before the angry glare the Rasputin's Captain was giving her motivated her response. "I need this ship to take me to Arisia 3."

Susan would have laughed if she didn't realise that the telepath sitting in front of her was serious. Instead, she just tried to hide her amusement behind a deepening frown. "Well, you can't have it," she replied curtly and returned her attention to the data pad currently in her hand.

"I am afraid that Psi-Corp has made an official request to Earthforce that you assist me in my investigation," Sarah informed Ivanova, the young Psi-Cop's confidence growing slowly with every word. "In fact I have just had word back from Mr. Bester that Earthforce command has agreed to his request and signed your vessel over to me for the next five days."

Susan looked up again and stared at the Psi-Cop as if to try to determine if she was telling the truth or not. Finally, Susan said, "I have other orders I am afraid Ms. Chang. I have heard nothing about this from Earthforce."

"You orders have been changed Captain," Sarah replied, a little more harshly than she had intended. The Captain's attitude was beginning to annoy her and Sarah's next words came out sounding haughty and disdainful. "If you contact Earthforce you will find out that what I have told you is correct. I suggest you call them at once, I have no intention waiting around for half a day, wasting what little time I have."

The Psi-Cop's tone was nothing new to Susan. In fact, it was exactly what she would have expected. She just stared back at Sarah, her gaze withering, letting the Psi-Cop know exactly what she though of threats. "I will do that Ms. Chang," Susan promised her, her voice leaving Sarah in no doubt that she would call Earthforce when and if she was ready, and not a moment before. "But, until I do and get proper confirmation of this claim of yours from my superiors, you will have to wait. I suggest you get something to eat, or maybe read a book."

"I will wait Captain," the Psi-Cop replied, now annoyed at herself for losing her temper with Ivanova. She knew the Captain was difficult, and making threats, even if heavily veiled ones, was not going to help matters at all. "But not too long. This is important to both Psi-Corps and Earthforce and every moment wasted is one we can not afford to lose."

"Very well Ms. Chang," Susan said, knowing that even if she did wait it would only be putting off the inevitable. "I will make the call."

"Thank you Captain," Sarah said, although there was little genuine gratitude in her voice.

Susan stared her again, but when the telepath didn't get the message, she was forced to say, "Outside please Ms. Chang. I prefer not to make important calls to my superiors knowing that my every thought is being listened to." In truth, Susan already knew the telepath wasn't scanning her, but wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of watching while Susan argued with Admiral Mellor.

"I don't make illegal scans of anyone Captain," Sarah tried to argue. However, Susan wasn't listening, just looking pointedly at the Psi-Cop and then at the open door. Sighing in annoyance, the Psi-Cop dragged herself out of her chair and marched off towards the door. Just before she left, she paused and looked back at the captain. "I expect you to make that call to Earthdome at once Captain. There is little enough time to waste as it is, without you deliberately stalling. I know you don't like me, or the Corp but this is important to both the Psi-Corps and all of Earthforce. After all, would your superiors loan out your destroyer to us if it wasn't important."

Leaving Susan to consider those words she marched off towards the officer's dining room, deciding that eating a late breakfast wouldn't be a bad idea after all. Behind her, Susan watched for a few moments before tapping the switch that closed the door to her office and turning to the communication screen mounted on the wall. Ivanova didn't want to appear too eager to assist the Psi-Cop, but if Earthforce thought it important enough to hand over control of her vessel to Psi-Corps then she had better find out exactly what the terms of that agreement were.

* * *

At the same time Susan was calling Earthdome to request confirmation of her new orders, the warship Enlightener and its crew were still making their way across Hyperspace. Slower than most other vessels due to its size, its crew and commanders had plenty to time to discuss the upcoming attack.

Darren Anderson and Harvey Kiel were doing just that on the bridge. Kiel, careful to keep at least one eye on the bridge crew at all times, had taken to even sleeping in his seat on the bridge. Anderson was a little worried that perhaps his superior was feeling the pressure a lot more than he said, but Kiel seemed to be relaxed in his throne, sitting comfortably while eating his breakfast.

Around the gigantic warship the chaotic mists of Hyperspace spread in all directions, while somewhere far ahead of them was the beacon that was even now pulling them closer and closer to the next target. Until that beacon was almost within sight, it was just a matter of waiting and planning for the coming battle, however short it might turn out to be.

"Sorry to disturb you Sir," Anderson said as he came up to Kiel side.

The former Psi-Cop was just finishing off his breakfast, and did not seem overly concerned about the interruption. "You are not disturbing me Mr. Anderson," he replied as he put the breakfast tray down on the console in front of him. "What can I do for you now."

"I have just had a disturbing report from some of our agents on Earth and Proxima, Sir. I thought I should inform you as soon as possible."

"I see," Kiel responded aloud before converting to telepathic speech to keep the rest of their conversation more private. _'And what does this report say.'_

Anderson fished it out of a pocket and passed it over to Kiel, while at he same time filling in the former Psi-Cop with the basics of the information contained on the data pad. _'It seems that Earthforce has somehow learned of our existence. The first base we destroyed managed to get off a short message, and although it didn't contain much information it has Earthforce worried enough to start organising a fleet to come and look for us.'_

Kiel shrugged. _'I don't see the problem. As long as they are looking for us then they won't be gathering to stand against us. In fact, as far as we are concerned, if Earthforce sends all its ships out searching for us, then that will only assist our cause. I assume they will start looking at the place where the listening post was destroyed.'_

 _'That would be my guess Sir,'_ Anderson agreed, suddenly seeing the logic in Kiel's argument.

 _"Then I don't see the problem,"_ Kiel said. _"If they are all out along the border looking for us, then they can't be used to stop us. I would take any destroyer at least three days to reach the Alliance border from Earth, maybe even more. Based on that it would also take them the same amount of time to return once they learn of our attack on Proxima III. I don't intend on sticking around waiting for them though, and shall instead jump straight for Earth. Two days later we will be in position to attack Earth, while any ships they send out to the border sectors will still be at least a day away.'_

 _'And, no concern of ours then,'_ Anderson finished.

_'That is right Mr. Anderson. So tell our agents in Earthdome to keep an eye on what's happening, but I don't think we need to worry too much about these reports.'_

_'Yes Sir,'_ Anderson said, still looking a little worried, despite Kiel's reassurance. _'There is of course the matter of the other report.'_

 _'Other report?'_ Kiel asked, looking down at the data pad in his hand.

 _'Yes the report from our agent on Proxima,'_ Anderson said, pointing to the second file on the data pad. _'Mr. Hill has just send a message to say that a Psi-Cop is on to us, a Sarah Chang I believe he said her name was.'_

 _'Sarah Chang?'_ Kiel asked with a strange look on his face. When Anderson nodded, he smiled grimly. _'So Bester is finally getting close to us it seems, Ms. Chang is his latest assistant, the one who was hanging around outside my apartment on Mars for the last two weeks I was there.'_

 _'I didn't know that Sir,'_ Anderson said with a frown spreading across his face. _'You should have mentioned it to me.'_

 _'I didn't think it important enough to comment on,'_ Kiel replied. _'As long as we only communicated telepathically she could not pick up anything, and anyway, my office was shielded against any sort of listening devices. Did Hill have anything else to report?'_

Anderson looked down at his own copy of the agent's message. _'Yes, Sir, he said Ms. Chang showed up at his dwelling in Reagan Dome and scanned him. He isn't sure but he thinks she may have found memories linking me to Arisia 3.'_

 _'Well that isn't a problem then,'_ Kiel replied, tossing the data pad onto the console in front of him. _'No-one will find anything there.'_

Anderson looked confused. _'But what about the factories and all the slaves we left behind. There are still those two Centauri destroyers the Regent sent us there as well.'_

_'You don't need to worry about them Mr. Anderson. Our allies have promised to take care of them. Even if Bester's assistant finds her way there, she won't find anything that will point out our location. Just sit back and relax, and leave the worrying to those who are looking for us. We have nothing to threaten us now. Which reminds me, how are our financiers enjoying their quarters.'_

_'Complaining of course Sir,'_ Anderson replied, glancing briefly at the door that led from the bridge towards the guest quarters. _'Mr. Tamuil from Microtel was demanding to know what listening post we were going to destroy next.'_

A tone of amusement came across loudly in Kiel's thoughts. _'So he doesn't know then.'_

_'No Sir, after you informed me of the next target, I thought it best to keep it from them. It would do for them to get anxious now and start talking to Earthforce.'_

_'No, that would not do at all,'_ Kiel agreed leaning back in his chair to contemplate the view out of the front of the bridge. He didn't like the businessmen he had been forced to deal with to complete this vessel, but soon they would be no longer any use to the project and could be deposed of. Then, all that would be left were those loyal to the cause, those who know what they have to do is right for Psi-Corps, right for Earth and right for the entire Alliance.

* * *

Susan sighed wearily as she turned away from the screen and back to her desk. Admiral Mellor had confirmed Chang's orders, much to Susan's extreme annoyance. She had attempted to argue her case; pointing out the fact that with her ship gone there would be nothing left defending Proxima III. The Admiral, though, had dismissed that argument and ordered her to follow the Psi-Cop's orders. 'After all,' he had said. 'There is nothing I can do. T he joint chiefs have approved this mission, and neither you or I can go against their orders." Reluctantly Susan had agreed.

The last thing Susan wanted to do right now was to be working for Psi-Corps, despite the fact it was only for five days and for four of them the Rasputin would probably be in Hyperspace. Still with any luck, they would only be asked to transport the Psi-Cop to her destination and then, if no enemy was found, turn back and rendezvous with the rest of the fleet that was gathering at Proxima III.

Not really wanting to summon the Psi-Cop and admit that Sarah had been right, Susan turned instead back to her work, wanting to complete the last of the reports before meeting again with the telepath. The sound of someone clearing their throat suddenly broke her concentration though, right when she had been about to move on to the interesting topic of plasma cannon accuracy testing. Looking up she found Commander Petrov and Major Logan standing just outside the door, the Commander looking unhappy about interrupting her work, the Major looking fit to burst as if she had some important news she could not wait to pass on.

"I hadn't expected you until later Commander," Susan said. She wasn't overly upset to see him. After all, it could have been the Psi-Cop returning to gloat. "Come on in anyway. I have the reports with me now so we can discuss them now if you like."

"Thank you Captain," Petrov replied, taking his usual seat by the wall. "Actually it is not about the latest crew reports that I came to see you." Seeing Susan's questioning look, he quickly continued. "I was speaking to Major Logan a little earlier and, well perhaps she had better explain what she told me."

Susan looked over at the Major, who was still standing by the door, two data pads clutched in her hands. "Major?" she asked, sweeping her hand toward the empty chair next to Petrov's.

Lily needed no second invitation and hurried over to the seat, pausing only to hand over one of the data pads to Susan who took it briefly and then placed it on the desk in front of her. A little hesitantly at first, but slowly gaining in confidence she began her tale. "Do you remember back on Mars that I said I would look into that matter for you Captain?" she asked. When Susan nodded, she continued. "Well I wasn't having a lot of luck until that Psi-Cop mention that Mr. Anderson was interested in Arisia 3 then all things seemed to fall into place. I spent most of last night on it, but finally came up with what I think is the solution this morning."

She paused for a moment to take a breath and then continued. "I had to do a lot of checking around various financial organizations but it all began to make sense. You remember that I said that it might be a corporate war or something like that."

Susan nodded. "You also said it involved Psi-Corps as well," she pointed out.

"That's right," Lily agreed. "And although I am not sure if it still involves the Psi-Corps organization itself, I am certain that at least Mr. Anderson is involved."

"Anderson?" Susan asked. "What does he have to do with it? I don't remember you mentioning him before."

"Well, I didn't know he was involved then Captain," Lily explained. "It wasn't until last night that it all made sense. Anyway, as I was saying, Psi-Corps isn't involved, but I believe that several major companies are. I have been checking records on Earth, some very hard to get hold of financial records by the way, and have found that several major companies have spent a lot of money recently. JMC, the Mars Corporation, and Microtel are the three highest on the list."

"Those companies are always spending money though," Susan said. "They are the three largest Earth based megacorporations around. If they weren't spending money then I would worry."

"True," the Major replied. "However they usually spend it on something tangible. There has been something like twelve billion credits, maybe a lot more, that has just vanished. It took me a while to work out that something was going on, as the missing money was all labelled research funds. However, after some digging I found out that all those funds were going to a single account on Mars, one run by our friend Mr. Anderson. Don't ask how I got this information, but I can assure you it is accurate."

"Twelve billion credits?" Susan asked incredulously. "What the hell does he want with that sort of money."

"Well I don't know that for sure yet Captain," Lily admitted. "However I do know that the money hasn't been remaining in his account long, and most of it was quickly transferred on to another account, this one in the Thrakallan city of Gistuelin."

"Which means that it is now impossible to trace," Petrov cut in. "Those insects are notorious criminals and experts at hiding things from the authorities. So if anyone can hide that amount of money, they can."

"All of which starts to make the whole situation very suspicious indeed," Susan said grimly. "There is a lot they could do with twelve billion credits."

"Like construct a fleet of fighters for instance," Lily said.

"You don't mean…" Susan said, her eyes opening in surprise.

"Exactly," Lily replied with a triumphant smile. "Those fighters that attacked Proxima might have been what the money was spent on. After all they do contain Microtel parts, not to mention other Earth technology."

"Are you sure though?" Susan asked her. " I mean something like that is ambitious even for the Psi-Corps."

"Well I don't think the Psi-Corps are actually involved. After all, we have a Psi-Cop running around here trying desperately to find Anderson so obviously not everyone in the Corps is involved. In fact, I think probably only a few are involved. Most likely only those who were working for President Clark."

"I am still not sure that I understand exactly what you are trying to get at Major," Susan said.

"Well, I haven't worked out all the details yet Captain," Lily admitted. "But I think I have enough to come up with a reasonable hypothesis."

"Then lets hear it," Susan urged. "This whole thing is beginning to give me a headache."

Lily smiled briefly before pointing to the data pad she had given Susan. "All the information I have discovered is in there, however I can give you a brief overview. What I think is happening is this. Those companies I mentioned were all strong supporters of Clark and his regime. When he committed suicide they lost a lot of contracts they had been promised."

"Like the contract for the Warlock destroyers that Microtel was bidding for," Susan said, remembering that little fact that Dr. Kozlowski had pointed out when he had examined the crashed fighter.

"Yes, contracts like that," confirmed Lily. "This allowed smaller companies like Futurecorp and several based here on Proxima to get a lot of business that had gone to the megacorps during Clark's rule. Of course the big corporations were most annoyed by this and had to come up with something to turn the situation around."

"Why didn't they just try and trade their way out of the situation," Susan cut in. "Buy out the smaller companies and that sort of thing. I mean that is what most companies would do."

"True," Lily agreed. "But we are not dealing with normal companies here, we are dealing with three of the biggest companies on Earth. Despite their size, they are mainly Earth companies, and it is well known that they are starting to have trouble competing with the off-world competition. Do you know what the fastest growing company in the Alliance is at the moment?" When Susan shook her head, Lily told her, "Proxima Mining. They used to be just a small company with assets only in this system, but over the past few months they have signed up deals with four alien government worth potentially billions to their company, and to the Proxima economy."

"I still don't see what that has to do with Anderson and those fighters though," Susan said, anxious for the Major to get to the point.

Lily didn't want to be rushed though. "I am getting to that Captain. Anyway, as I was saying, the companies of Proxima and the other colonies are growing at least twice as fast as those based on Earth. In another five, maybe ten years at the most, the old megacorporations will be little more than memories, unless they take action now."

"By attacking the holdings of their opponents," Susan exclaimed, understanding suddenly welling up inside her. "They are going to use those new raiders to attack holdings of any company that threatens their interests. They can blame it on raiders and while their competition is reeling from the losses the raiders are causing, they can move in and snatch up the business for themselves." Then she paused and a puzzled frown crossed her face. "What does that have to do with Arisia 3 though?" she asked.

"Well I am not too sure about this yet Captain," Lily replied. "But I checked with navigation and I noticed something interesting. Care to guess which alien race's homeworld is closest to Arisia 3?"

"Thrakallan," everyone in the room said at once.

"That's right Captain," Lily replied with a broad smile. "The Thrakallan system sits right between the Earth Alliance and Narn space, a little under three light years from the Arisia system. It is closer to Arisia than Proxima is to Earth."

"So, you think something is going on there?" Susan asked.

"I am positive something is. Do you remember what that telepath in the casino on Mars asked you about?"

Susan thought back for a moment, "Project A3, or something like that."

Lily nodded in confirmation. "That's correct Captain. As we worked out then, I suspect that Project A3 actually applies to something happening on Arisia 3. I don't know what they are doing there though, it could be something as simple as a site for their meetings, or it might be something more significant."

"So what ever is happening, it has something to do with that planet," Susan mused.

"That would be my guess," the Major confirmed with a nod.

"It is a good thing that we are about to make a short visit to that system then, isn't it," Susan said as a smile spread across her face.

"Captain?" Petrov said with a puzzled frown. Major Logan looked almost as confused.

Susan quickly hurried to explain. "I have just received new orders from Earthdome. For the next five days, we are being loaned out to the Psi-Corps, and more particularly Ms. Chang. Apparently she wants to make a visit to Arisia 3 to look for Mr. Anderson."

Petrov let out a short laugh. "So that solves that problem then. We can help her look for Mr. Anderson and at the same time test Major Logan's hypothesis about what exactly Anderson has been up to."

Susan nodded. "That is my plan Commander." She looked up and noticed the Psi-Cop approaching down the hallway. "In fact, here is Ms. Chang now."

The dark-haired telepath looked a little annoyed to find the other two officers in the room with Susan but accepted the Captain's offer of the last available seat. "Have you checked with Earthforce yet Captain," she asked, taking the seat.

"I have Ms. Chang," Susan confirmed. "And they have confirmed your request. We depart for Arisia 3 as soon as possible."

Sarah had been all prepared for a long and drawn out argument with the Rasputin's Captain, so was caught completely unawares by Susan almost complete turn around from just half an hour earlier. "Umm... I... Good Captain," she managed to get out. "I am pleased that you see it my way."

"As you said Ms. Chang, Earthforce would not allow you use of this vessel unless it was important. So how could I refuse your request?"

"I see," Sarah said, getting back up out of her chair. "I will go and inform my superior that we are on our way then." She paused at the door and looked back as Susan. "Thank you Captain," she said almost sincerely, before walking away from the Captain's office.

"Looks like we have some work to do then Captain," Petrov said. "Half the fighters are still out on drills with those from Proxima."

"At least we hadn't got around to authorising shore leave yet," Susan said. "Get everyone back on board and prepare us for the jump to hyperspace as quickly as we can. I want to be out of here as soon as possible."

"Give me ten minutes Captain," Petrov replied with a salute before he hurried out of the room.

Susan turned to Major Logan. "Perhaps you would care to join me on the bridge Major," she said. "I would like to hear the rest of what you have discovered."

"Of course Captain," Lily replied eagerly.

As they left her office and walked the short distance down the corridor to the bridge, Susan could not help but be amazed at the way things had worked out. She was a little worried though about what they might find on Arisia 3. If the planet was the source of the fighters that had attacked Proxima III, then they may have a fight on their hands. However, if there was something going on then she had to find out what and not just because the world had been Marcus' home, but also because of the way those involved had tried to kill her, twice.

* * *

The Thrakallan crime lord j'Sill watched as the first of the factories began to explode into a cloud of flame and twisted metal above the huge red planet. Resembling a giant praying mantis, he was unable to smile, but instead his green-brown exoskeleton flushed pink on the sides of his head, the Thrakallan equivalent of pleasure. He had much to be happy about, the deal he had signed with the human telepath had bought him nearly thirty million credits in profit, almost twice what he had originally expected.

The Thrakallan cared nothing for the ten of thousands of lives on the factories that came to an abrupt end the two Centauri destroyers blew them apart. Instead, he turned his shuttle away from the devastation and towards the jumpgate. Thrakallans didn't have much of a conscience when it came to making money. They would do anything, sell anything, and even kill anyone to ensure a profit for their business ventures. Therefore, when j'Sill had been approached by the humans with the offer of the job, he had jumped at the opportunity, and his efforts had been well rewarded by his employers.

He clicked his mandibles together, letting out a laugh, although no one who heard the noise would ever image the horrible grating sound was laughter. Soon he would be back on his homeworld, and with his payment stored safely in his shuttle's cargo hold, he would be able to buy a floating palace to live out his days in luxury. With such a wonderful home, he would have a choice of mates and all the best food. Truly, life had picked up since the human had first approached him, and now it was about to become positively joyous.

A sudden alarm on the console in front of him drew his thoughts away from how he was going to spend his money though. He looked at the flashing red light in confusion for a moment, wondering what it meant. The Thrakallan had little experience with flying shuttles, so it took him several more moments before he realised it was the attack warning, indicating that an enemy vessel was about to fire on his ship. By then, it was too late and his body was already being scattered across space by the explosion that tore through his small shuttle.

The Drakh fighters swept past the remains of shuttle at incredible speed, faster than almost any other vessel in space, before spinning around to look over the carnage behind them. The last of the factories had just been destroyed and now the two destroyers were turning their attention to the planet below. Rock melted under the furious assault of their weapon, and the huge robot miners sitting idle on the planet's surface exploded as their fuel tanks were ruptured.

Then, when every piece of the former construction site was little more than rubble and chucks of floating wreckage, the two Centauri destroyers turned away from the planet, opened a jump point and vanished into Hyperspace. They had other work to do now, the being who had loaned them to Kiel and his fellow conspirators had other plans and plots to conduct, most far more important that this little war that the former Psi-Cop was planning.

The Drakh fighters were still needed however, and instead of following the Centauri vessels, they turned towards the distant jumpgate and powered away. Behind them, they left thousands of dead slaves and engineers and a planet where raging fires still burned from the fierce assault that had just taken place.

* * *

**19:45, February 19, 2262.**

The EAS Gallant, an ancient Nova class destroyer, was no match for the huge warship that suddenly appeared out of Hyperspace almost on top of it. The old ship barely had enough time to manoeuvre before it was being torn about by the plasma cannons of a hundred or more tiny fighters. Although each shot from the fighters was only like a tiny nibble to the destroyer, a hundred tiny nibbles quickly added up and the Gallant broke apart shortly after getting off two shots with its own weapons. Both missed.

Several life pods were launched but once again, the Enlightener's commander ordered them shot down, not wanting to leave any witnesses behind to inform Earthforce what was coming their way. Beyond the wreckage of the Gallant was the Earth Alliance world of Flinn Colony, a world that was still unaware of the doom that was fast approaching them.

Flinn Colony had once been a mining colony, but, during the Earth/Minbari war, it had become a major military base. In the vast canyons, where the main colony had been built, powerful ground based weaponry were sunk deep into the ground. Protected and defended by these powerful guns, the colony was able to make a stand against the attacking Minbari ships, forcing the invaders down onto the planet. There, on the surface of the planet, one of the bloodiest battles of the entire war was fought out, as Minbari ground troops fought Earth Alliance marines for every inch of space and territory.

The Minbari has won, but their dead littered the surface of the planet. Even now, both sides still speak of the heroes that died in the few, brief, bloody days of fighting. Located on the border of Earth and Minbari territory the colony was important enough to rebuild after the war and the damage done by the Minbari had been repaired. This time though, settlers also came with the soldiers, turning the once military base into a proper colony.

When it became obvious that peace with the Minbari was going to last, most of the soldiers were withdrawn and sent on to other frontiers and outposts. More and more settlers had arrived from Earth, eager to make a new life on a new world, and so now, close to fifteen years after the war ended, most of the defences had been stripped away.

In fact, the single destroyer and two remaining gun emplacements on the surface were pretty much the sum total of the colony's defences against enemy attack. In the past more ships would have been posted here but during the civil war the ships protecting the system had defected to Sheridan's forces and followed him to Earth. After the war, every available ship was needed to defend the homeworld until the network of defensive satellites around Earth could be rebuilt, and only a single old Nova class destroyer was sent back to the colony.

That ship was now gone and there was nothing left to protect the base as Kiel's Enlightener slowly drifted to a stop above the planet, just out of reach of the planet's surface defences, and activated its weapon. Below, along the walls of the canyon, the people of Flinn Colony looked up in confusion as a bight light suddenly lit up the sky. The defensive weapons that could protect the base against almost any attacker, powerful plasma cannons capable of blowing apart attacking fighters and destroyers, were of no use against the huge chunk of rock that plunged through the extremely thin atmosphere to impact almost directly on top of the canyon where the colony had been built.

A huge mushroom cloud rose up above the canyon, carrying dust and even small slivers of rock into the atmosphere and scattering them across the entire planet. Below the impact site the wall of the canyon cracked and quickly collapsed, burying much the entire colony. Impressive and beautiful, the buildings carved into the sides of the walls of rock were swept away and deposited along the canyon floor. Thousands of lives ended in a brief instant of chaos and pain, but they were the lucky ones. The rest of the population was condemned to a slow, cold death as power failed across the colony, and life support slowly began to fade from their dwellings and work places.

By the time investigators from Earthforce arrived to find out why the colony was not responding to signals all they would find was a single large crater and a long, rubble filled trench where the canyon had once been. Of course, if Harvey Kiel got his way, by the time Earthforce learned of the colony's destruction, they would already know what, and who, had been responsible. However, Earthforce, like every other major power in this sector of the galaxy, would be incapable of stopping him.

* * *

A brilliant flash lit up space near the edge of the Arisia system, followed almost immediately be the appearance of a huge swirling, blue rift in space as the Rasputin plunged back into real space. The warship having completed the passage from hyperspace, the rift faded and the Rasputin was left alone, a long silver shape against the blackness of space. Then its engines flared brightly and, slowly at first, but quickly picking up speed, the warship turned toward the distant world.

On the bridge, Susan sat in the command chair, watching the slowly approaching planet on the holographic display. Not knowing what to expect she had ordered the Rasputin to exit Hyperspace a lot further out from the planet than normal. That way it would be possible to detect what was around the planet before getting too close. Even if there were an entire enemy fleet orbiting the planet, the Rasputin's jump engines would have time to recharge fully in case she was forced to flee.

No enemy fleet had appeared so far, not even a single scout or fighter. She was certain that anyone on the planet would not have been able to miss the jump point forming, it would have shown up on their sensors as a sudden, brilliant flare of energy, probably setting off every sensor and warning beacon in the system, assuming Anderson and whoever else might be around had an early warning system.

"Anything yet," Susan asked the crewman responsible for relaying findings from the ship's sensors.

"Not yet Captain," he replied. "The signal is very jumbled and hard to make out. Even the planet itself is difficult to register on the sensors."

Susan wondered for a moment why that would be. Arisia 3, as the closest planet to their current location, should stand out strongly against the background of space. She made her way down into the sunken operations area where the bridge crew were hunched over their brightly lit consoles. Leaning over the shoulder of the sensor operator, she scanned the information on his screen for herself.

"What's this," she asked, pointing out the myriad of tiny dots that orbited the planet, confusing the sensors.

"I don't know Captain," the crewman replied. "They could be part of a large dust ring, just a lot closer in than the ones around Saturn and similar worlds.

Susan considered this for a moment. "Unlikely," she replied with a shake of her head. "I have never heard of a world of Arisia's size having a ring, usually it's only gas giants." A sudden thought hit her. "Wait a minute," she exclaimed. "Could it be fighters? Maybe something similar to those we encountered at Proxima."

The sensor operator looked doubtful, but not wanting to annoy the captain by disagreeing with her idea tried to appear supportive, while letting her down gently. "They could be Captain. I t is possible, but some of those objects are a lot smaller than any fighter would be."

Susan nodded, seeing where he pointed out a collection of hundreds of even smaller dots, and others that were a lot larger, including one nearly the size of the Rasputin. She looked away from the sensors console and went over instead to the communication officer. "Can we enlarge that image at all Lieutenant?" she asked. "Zoom in so we can see what exactly we are dealing with."

The young lieutenant shook her head. "We can zoom in Captain, but it will only enlarge the current image, losing a lot of resolution. Therefore, while we can make the image larger we can't make it any clearer. Once we get closer we can see what is out there a lot better."

"Do it anyway," Susan said, a horrible suspicion about what they would find beginning to form in her head. "Humour me, and zoom in on one of those smaller objects."

The lieutenant looked a little confused as to why the Captain was ordering this, but she obeyed anyway, zooming in the tiny dot until the filled the entire screen. Despite the loss of resolution, it was plainly evident what the object was. "It's a body," the communication officer exclaimed. "Look you can just see the arms and legs. At least that is what it looks like to me. Humanoid too, although I can't tell what race from this distance."

Susan nodded and looked away from the screen, back up to where Commander Petrov stood watching what she had been doing. "As I suspected Commander," she said. "It looks like Mr. Anderson and his megacorp allies have been covering their tracks, the sick bastards." She turned back to the console and, after pushing the Lieutenant to one side, operated the controls herself, focusing in on one of the larger objects in orbit around the planet.

"What do you think that is Commander," she said, pointing to the screen, which was displaying the rough, broken shape.

Petrov eyed it for almost a minute before replying. "It looks a bit like the habitat ring of one of those big orbital factories. You know, like the ones you get near Io. It is a bit hard to tell at this distance, but it looks like something has shot it up pretty bad."

"Yes it does doesn't it," Susan agreed. "And I think I know what, well who anyway, might be responsible." She stepped away from the console, allowing a slightly anxious young lieutenant to resume her work and walked back up the short flight of stairs to the raised command platform where Petrov and her seat waited. After she was seated again, Susan continued. "I think what we are looking at is the remains of an orbital factory of some kind. Probably the one where they built the fighters that attacked Proxima."

"Why has it been destroyed though?" Petrov asked. "A factory that size must have cost someone a large amount of credits. It seems a waste to just destroy it."

"Well assuming the people responsible for the attack on Proxima were responsible for the destruction we are looking at, then I would say probably because someone found out we might be coming their way. An organization that could build something like an orbital factory this far from Earth and keep it undetected would probably also have spies in Earthforce and Psi-Corps and as soon as they learnt the Rasputin was coming this way they probably destroyed their factory and took off for a new location."

"It still seems a bit of waste," Petrov said, shaking his head at the destruction that was becoming clearer and clearer as each minute passed.

"Well they couldn't take it with them," Susan explained. "Even if they had stuck around and destroyed the Rasputin that would only exposed their operation. Our mission here was sanctioned by at the highest levels of Earthforce so if we went missing someone was going to notice. They probably wanted to try to hide what they were up to as well, and this was the only way they could see of doing it. I am willing to bet you almost anything that we won't find anything useful left, either in orbit or down on the planet below."

"Why are there bodies floating in orbit then?" Petrov asked.

"I don't know for sure Commander," Susan replied. "But my guess would be that those were the workers who build the raiders. The people responsible probably didn't want any word of their operation getting out so they left the workers in the factory when they blew it up. They probably promised them a lot of money for the work they were doing, but knew they couldn't trust everyone to keep their mouths shut. After all, they will assume that anyone taking a bribe to keep quiet, will open their mouths for a bigger bribe."

"I guess that tells us what sort of people we are dealing with here," Petrov said, shock plainly evident on his face.

"Yes it does," Susan agreed. "The sort that care nothing for human or alien life and only for their profits. The same sort that backed President Clark during his rule."

Petrov nodded his head in agreement. "I guess we won't find out exactly who is behind this operation either. There doesn't appear to be a lot left for us to examine."

"Well we will just have to wait and see Commander," Susan replied. "It is possible that they missed something during the evacuation of the planet and the destruction of their factory. Even just a tiny clue may point out where they have gone. I just hope we can spare the time it is going to take."

* * *

Anderson turned away from the viewscreen, looking a little sick. He didn't really have the stomach for such destruction and, despite the fact that he knew that some would have to die for the new order to be reborn, he still didn't like the killing as much as Kiel obviously did. Kiel on the other hand appeared to be enjoying himself immensely, looking on in pleasure as the colony was wiped out. "Another successful test," he said happily to Anderson.

Anderson looked back at the destroyed colony. "Yes it was Sir, but there were a lot of people on that colony that died today. Flinn colony was home to nearly ten thousand settlers."

"Casualties of war Darren," Kiel said casually. "Beside they were just mundanes, so it was no real loss. A few must die to restore order to our society. I have told you that often enough before."

"Yes Sir," Anderson replied, although his voice did not sound confident. The plan had sounded so nice and clean when it had been initially explained to him, but now with each death he was feeling less and less confident that they were doing the right thing. He pushed those thoughts deep inside though so the other telepaths on the warship could not notice them. Instead, he just kept reminding himself that each death was needed to insure the security of Earth. Only once Earth was back in the hands of those who cared for it, instead of aliens and alien sympathisers, would it be secure and its people safe.

One of the doors onto the bridge opened and a small collection of dark suited men and woman entered. They were the representatives of the various megacorporations that had financed the construction of the warship and they did not look very happy at all, as they hurried across the metal deck to the command chair where Kiel sat.

"What the hell do you think you are doing," the representative of Microtel demanded. "We said that this weapon was only going to be tested on small outposts, not on entire colonies. You can't go around destroying colonies. These are the people we are trying to sell to."

Kiel spun around in his chair to face the irate businessman. "I needed to see how this ship would operate against a larger, more heavily defended world." He turned back and pointed towards the cloud of dust still rising above the devastated colony. "And as you can see it works quite well. In fact I think you could say this has been a very successful test indeed."

The businessman's face went red with anger. "But there were over ten thousand people on that planet. We didn't sign on for that sort of murder. This weapon was only supposed to be used as a last resort. It is the raiders we payed you to construct, not this mass driver. This ship is supposed to be a carrier for our raiders, not an instrument of mass murder."

Kiel laughed. "And you think that just raiding a few worlds would have worked. Earthforce would have just sent their fleet after us. We need to crush Earthforce totally, destroying them so that we rule in their place. Then we can spread across the other worlds driving all our enemies before us. My agents are already in place across Earth and Mars and as soon as Earthdome surrenders we will be ready to move."

"You… You're mad," one of the other businessmen said, suddenly realising exactly what Kiel intended.

Kiel looked at him, a strange glint in his eye. "Not mad, just visionary, and by the time I'm finished, all of the galaxy will bow before me, and Humanity will rule, instead of the aliens. And if you do not understand that... Well, then I am afraid you will have to be replaced with someone who does."

* * *


	26. Chapter 26

* * *

For only the second time since she had taken command of the Rasputin, Susan found herself in the warship's conference room. This time the room was considerably more crowded than the last meeting, with Sarah Chang, Dr. Kozlowski, the engineer Philip Moore and several of the junior officers that Susan still hadn't had time to get to know properly yet. All were busy discussing the situation on the planet below them, the devastation plainly visible on the holographic display system that was built into the ceiling and walls of the room.

Spread across the table in front of them was a collection of large printouts from the warship's powerful sensor system. They showed various scenes of the surface of Arisia 3, and when Susan had first seen the colour images, they had reminded her of what she imagined hell would look like. A scattering of craters from an orbital bombardment were most visible, but also the attack seemed to have set off almost all of the planet's volcanoes and now furious rivers of lava were flowing freely across the rocky surface, quickly obscuring anything of value that might have existed down there.

Space over the planet was even more confused, with thousand of bodies, chunks of twisted metal, and even entire sections of the former factory drifting like a cloud above Arisia 3. Susan had been forced to order the Rasputin to a higher orbit than she would have liked, as the lower orbits were choked with debris. She wasn't sure, but it looked to her as though more than one factory may have been present when the destruction occurred, as there was just way too much debris for a single factory, no matter how large.

"Any suggestions on what to do now?" She asked the command staff as soon as they had settled into their seats.

The officers looked around at each other, as if waiting for one of the others to speak. Instead of one of the ship's command staff, it was the Psi-Cop, Sarah Chang, who spoke up first. "My interest here is only in Mr. Anderson. I want to determine if he is here, and if he isn't, where he has gone. Everything else is unimportant at the moment."

"I wouldn't call thousand's of dead bodies unimportant," Susan replied curtly. "There are a lot of dead people out there." The Captain turned and looked over at Dr. Habbib, who looked a little out of place and ill at ease among the rest of the senior officers. "Any information on the races of the dead yet?" she asked him.

The doctor shook his head. "Not yet Captain," he replied. "I can't get good readings from this distance, and will need to either get closer to the bodies or the bodies will have to be bought on board. I can tell you that most are humanoid, although given the region of space that could mean anything."

"True," Susan agreed, realising that the workers could have come from any one of a dozen major alien races that had either colonies or homeworlds nearby. "If we can find out who they are, or maybe just which races they belong to, then perhaps we can inform their families about what happened."

Dr. Habbib nodded. "I will do what I can Captain," he assured her.

"I am sure you will doctor," Susan said before turning to Major Logan and Lieutenant-Commander Schmitt who were sitting close to each along one side of the table. "I need scout parties sent out to see what they can find, both on the surface and in orbit. Lt. Commander Schmitt, how soon can your fighters be prepared for a scouting mission?"

"Ten minutes," Alister said confidently. "All Starfuries are equipped with basic sensors which, although not as powerful as a destroyer's, should be enough for close range scans. Of course, that will mean getting in fairly close to the wreckage down there, but I think my boys and girls can handle it."

"Good," Susan replied. "As soon as this meeting is over I want every fighter you have out there, looking for any sign of energy readings that might indicate an active circuit and any possible life signs."

"Will do Captain," Alister replied with a quick, almost casual salute.

Next Susan turned to Major Logan. "Major," she said. "Are your marines ready for a trip down to the surface? If Lt. Commander Schmitt's pilots find anything useful I may need to send you in."

Lily looked a little hesitant. "I am not sure about the surface Captain. We will need radiation suits just to move around down there, and fighting will be almost impossible if there is any sort of automatic security system."

"It doesn't look like much is left down there at all," Petrov cut in.

"No it doesn't," Susan agreed. "In fact, most of the surface installations appear to have been slagged by high energy weapons, probably from a large cruiser or destroyer." She turned back to the Major. "How about missions into some of those large sections of wreckage we have seen, is that possible?"

"No problems there Captain," Lily replied. "My men are trained to fight in low gravity situation and our weapons and environment suits are specifically built for space. I am not sure how they will work out on the surface of the planet though." She paused and examined one of the computer printouts. "According to these figures it is over 2g down there, with strong winds and a lethal level of background radiation. Personally, I wouldn't want to spend long down there, but if we need to we will."

"Good," Susan said. "Now has anyone else got anything to add?"

The Chief Engineer Philip Moore and his partner in crime, Dr. Kozlowski, immediately jumped in. "We do Captain," said the chief engineer.

"Go ahead then," Susan replied.

The two men looked at each other, wondering which was going to speak, but eventually decided that Philip Moore would speak for both of them. The Chief Engineer tugged a large stack of printouts from a leather briefcase the doctor handed him. He spread the paper out on the table and then began his tale. "We have been doing some analysis of the data collected by the Rasputin's sensors so far," he said, indicating the printouts.

Susan reached over and took one of the papers he had placed on the table. It contained a diagram of some kind of orbital construction platform, similar to the ones around Neptune. "What is this," she asked.

"Well that is what I wanted to speak about Captain," Philip replied. "You see, our analysis indicated that there was more than one orbital factory, possibly as many as three." He paused and indicated the paper Susan held. "Based on the type of debris we have been seeing there was also at least one was a class 5 orbital construction yard."

"Like the ones at Neptune," Susan asked.

"Sort of," Philip replied. "Actually a class 5 platform is the largest currently available, used for building explorer class vessels only. We think the one here was a class 5, although it is possible it was even larger."

"What does that mean then," Commander Petrov spoke up, not certain that he followed what the engineer was saying.

"Well, the Captain was saying that she thought whoever did this was using the orbital factories to built a fleet of fighters."

Susan nodded. "Yes, small raiders like the ones that attacked Proxima."

Philip looked grim. "Well, a construction yard that big couldn't be used to build fighters. It could only be used for larger, much larger, warships or vessels like the explorer ships."

"So do you think Anderson was building a destroyer or similar vessel here then?" Susan asked.

"Possibly," Philip replied. "Maybe something even bigger. As I said there could have been as many as three factories here. One might have made fighters and the others supplied parts for destroyer construction, or maybe they were just transport vessels or carriers. If I remember correctly I heard someone mention a JMC tanker a while back."

Petrov nodded. "Yes, we noticed a tanker jumping out of the Proxima system shortly after the battle with the raiders ended."

"They could have been using the construction yard to build tankers then," the engineer said. "Although why they would build something as innocent as that all the way out here is a bit of mystery."

"So it's a warship then," Susan said.

"That would be my guess," Philip agreed. "Although, I don't know how large, how many weapons emplacements it would have, or anything like that. We will need to collect more data before we can do a complete analysis of what me might be facing."

"Well, we had best get cracking and find you something to work with then," Susan said, a determined look on her face. "Lt. Commander Schmitt, you can get your fighters out there searching as soon as possible. Major Logan, get your men ready for a possible landing on the surface, or an excursion into one of those pieces of wreckage if we detect anything that is still functioning out there. Everyone else, I want you back at your posts in case there is something lurking out there ready to jump on us."

The Earthforce officers saluted and began to quickly file out of conference room, heading towards their duty stations. Susan was left in the room with just Sarah Chang, Commander Petrov, and Dr. Habbib for company. She looked at the Psi-Cop. "And you, Ms. Chang, can assist where ever you think you can be the most help. Scan around local space to see if you can locate anyone alive and that sort of thing."

Sarah nodded. "I will do what I can Captain," she said. "But I don't think there is likely to be any survivors. Mr. Anderson is not known for making mistakes, although I must admit that I didn't think even he could be up to something this big." She walked towards the door then halted, looking back at the Captain. "Whatever you find Captain, I would like a full report. This ship is currently working for Psi-Corps after all."

"You can have access to whatever I find Ms. Chang," Susan replied. "Of course we have to find something first."

The Psi-Cop nodded, pleased, and left the room. Dr. Habbib moved to follow, but like Sarah, he also stopped just before leaving to talk to Susan. "Captain Ivanova," he said. "I was just wondering if you could spare me a moment."

"Of course doctor," Susan said. "What is on your mind?"

"The death of Dr. Taylor actually," Habbib answered. "Ms. Chang sent me the findings of a group of specialists on Mars. They found that there was an unusual chemical in Dr. Taylor's blood. It was already breaking down and very difficult to detect, which is why I didn't find it during my autopsy. They didn't know what it was, but, after I was given the report, I went back and checked my findings again. This time I found a stronger sample still present in the doctor's heart and when I tested it I found a match in the data base."

"What was it," Susan asked.

"A very rare poison," Habbib replied, pulling a data pad out of his pocket and passing it over to Susan.

She took it and scanned through the information on the pad before passing it along to Petrov. "Thorn of Jastill?" she asked, beginning to realise the full implications of what the doctor was telling her. "I don't think I have every heard of that one."

"It is a Centauri poison," the doctor explained. "Very rare, and not in common use. It works by attacking the muscles of the heart, so it appears similar to a heart attack. It fell out of favour with the Centauri though, because it is reasonably easy to trace, too slow acting to be effective, but mostly because it is almost painless to the victim."

"Any idea how it got into her system?" Petrov asked.

"None I am afraid Commander," Habbib replied. "Although the poison is easy to trace it is almost impossible to detect when it was delivered. It is very slow acting and the victim doesn't show any effects until almost the moment of death. Depending on the size of the dose Dr. Taylor might have been exposed anytime in the past two months. The poison can remain in a victim's system for up to that length of time before becoming lethal."

"How does that work?" Susan asked, still a little shocked at the idea that the doctor had been murdered, probably by someone on this very ship. She hadn't been affected that way when she had first heard the news of Dr. Taylor's death, perhaps because she had been more worried about other matters at that time.

"It is a biological poison created from a plant native to Centauri Prime and then enhanced with an advanced nanotech component," Habbib explained. "It is well beyond the capability of Earth's technology at the moment. It is specifically programmed to only become active after a certain concentration is reached in the heart muscles. Therefore, if you give someone a very high dose then death is almost instantaneous but if it is a very low dose then it takes a long time for the poison to find its way the heart muscle tissue. It can also depend on the method of delivery."

"All round, a very nasty poison indeed," Susan said. She rubbed her forehead for a moment, trying to think of what to do now. "Alright," she said eventually. "Keep this under wraps for now doctor. We don't want to start a panic." She turned to her second in command. "Commander Petrov, I want you to look into this matter. Get the Psi-Cop to help you if she isn't too busy. Try to prevent her from getting out of hand though, for some reason she seemed very interested in what had happened to Dr. Taylor."

"Yes Captain," Petrov replied, looking none to happy have being asked to work with a telepath, although he could understand why he had been picked to investigate. Susan wanted to keep the knowledge of the murder from as many people as possible though and, as she was busy with the search of the planet, and the floating wreckage above it, that left only Petrov and Dr. Habbib. Out of those two, there was only one choice.

"Dr. Habbib," she continued. The doctor looked at her expectantly. "I want you to assist Commander Petrov. Put someone else in charge of sickbay for now. Grab a medical scanner, or something that can find this stuff, so you can scan for the poison, and remember, whatever else, keep this quiet." Habbib nodded his agreement.

"Ok then," Susan said. "Everyone has their orders, and I have a search to conduct."

"Yes Captain," Petrov said with a salute.

They all then left the conference room, Petrov and Habbib heading towards sickbay, while Susan walked towards the middle of the command deck and the bridge. Somewhere in the wreckage that surrounded the planet, was a clue that would lead to the location of the telepath Anderson and whatever he had been building here. Susan still didn't have a clue what that might be, but the waste, both in lives and equipment, which was visible around the planet, convinced her that something very big indeed was happening. Now all she had to do was find out what and put a stop to it.

* * *

Anderson watched as the bodies of the businessmen were dragged off the bridge, leaving pools of blood on the deck, one final reminder of their existence. Crewmen quickly moved to clean away the mess though, while the soldiers who had shot the businessmen marched off the bridge. Strangely, this time he didn't sick, realising that they had received exactly what they had deserved. The companies that had financed the building of the warship that he now found himself on were too greedy for their own good and had only sought to expand their business empires. Now, just a few of those businessmen had learned the price of their greed.

They had not realised that Kiel wasn't concerned with business dealings, only in restoring the position of Earth in the galaxy, in making it a power to be reckoned with. Kiel knew that Clark had been right when he had said that Earth had to expand to conquer other worlds, or it would slowly fade away. Too much had been given away to the colonies and other worlds and unless the people of Earth took charge of their own destiny, instead of just following the whims of Sheridan and his interstellar alliance, then humanity would soon be left far behind the other races.

Fear was their best weapon, and only through the correct application of fear would Earthdome surrender to Kiel. Because of this, a world was going to have to die, an example of what he could do. When the two million people of Proxima III gave their lives just over three days from now, fear of Kiel, and his ship, would spread across the entire sector. That fear would bring Earth and then, soon afterwards, the alien worlds to their knees, unless they wished to join the people of Proxima in extinction.

Anderson understood the need for the destruction and death but he did not like it. Too many were going to die for the cause, and Proxima, which controlled a fair percentage of industry in the Alliance, would be a major loss. However, as Kiel had said, it could be rebuilt; only this time the people would be under the control of Kiel and his legions of telepaths. The disloyalty that had bought down Clark would no longer be allowed and everyone would work together towards the cause, to make Earth a better world. At least that is what Anderson kept telling himself.

Watching from the shadows at the back of the bridge the alien there knew better. He knew it was unlikely that Kiel would succeed in his attempts to conquer the Earth Alliance, but even the attempt would leave Earth weakened and open for conquest by other races. Chaos was about to spread across this tiny corner of the galaxy and without Earth to assist the Interstellar Alliance then the alien's race would have a much better chance of spreading that chaos.

As the cleaning crew hurried away from the bridge, having wiped away the pools of blood, the alien watched the viewscreen as the devastated surface of Flinn Colony slowly dropped away. An orange rift opened in front of them and the warship slipped though, bound for Proxima III, now just barely three days Hyperspace travel away.

* * *

**06:08, February 20, 2262.**

Susan yawned as she walked down the hallway leading from her quarters to the bridge. She was beginning to feel the effects of lack of sleep, after having spent much of the previous night watching over the crew assigned to scan nearby space for some sign of life, either a living being or an active computer. So far, nothing had been found though, whoever had caused this destruction had been very thorough.

The bridge doors opened and Susan was surprised to find that none of her senior officers was present. Instead, the Psi-Cop, Sarah Chang, was comfortably perched in the command station. A frown beginning to form on her face, Susan walked across to the Psi-Cop's side and noisily cleared her throat.

Sarah looked up. "Captain Ivanova," she said. "What can I do for you?"

"Where is Lieutenant-Commander Heatley," Susan asked, recalling the name of the night watch commander. "She is supposed to be in command here until someone arrives to replace her."

"I gave her the rest of the morning off," Sarah replied casually. "She was tired."

Susan's frown grew deeper. "I would prefer it if you did not start making decisions for me Ms. Chang. This is still an Earthforce ship, despite our current assignment and Earthforce rules apply. I would be within my rights just to toss you off the ship and go back to Proxima."

"And miss finding out what happened to Mr. Anderson?" Sarah asked. "I don't think so. I have noticed that you have been as interested as I have in what he has been up too."

"True," Susan replied. "But my interest is strictly in what is good for the Earth Alliance, not just because he is a rogue telepath."

"Like your mother?" Sarah said, a little harshly. "I heard she was a rogue telepath. Are you sure that you are not just letting your feelings get the better of you?"

Susan froze and her frown changed to a look of pure hatred, Sarah was quite surprised by the reaction that short statement induced in the Captain. "You will never mention my mother again," Susan said icily, through clenched teeth. "If you do, I will toss you into the nearest airlock and push the button myself. You can not compare the beautiful, loving woman that was my mother to the monster who did this." Susan waved her hand at the display, which still showed the carnage orbiting Arisia 3.

"I am sorry Captain," Sarah tried to say, but Susan did not seem at all interested in hearing her apology.

"And you can get out of my station," Susan continued, in a tone that was cold and hate filled. When Sarah didn't move she continued. "Now would be a good time Ms. Chang. Because you have seen fit to dismiss the duty officer, assuming authority you just do not have on my ship, I will have to take over."

Sarah quickly left the command chair; still a little surprised at the reaction she had felt from Susan's mind. Although she was only scanning the Captain's surface thoughts, the sudden change in emotion had felt like a spike was being driven into her mind. She quickly raised every block she could, attempting to block out the corrosive hatred that had erupted from the Captain when she had mentioned Susan's mother.

Realising that words now would be little use, she turned away from the captain and left the bridge. At least now she understood why the Captain hated Psi-Corps so much, the images she had picked up from Susan's mind had been so powerful that she could not avoid feeling the pain the Captain was feeling. For a moment, she felt sad, remembering that she had never known her own mother, having been raised by the Corps. Sarah wondered what it must have been like for the Captain to be the daughter of a telepath, and to feel her mother's love for her in her mind.

Shaking off those thoughts, Sarah headed for the computer room deep in the heart of the warship, making a mental note to stay out of the Captain's way for the rest of the day. She could monitor what was going on just as well from down there as she could from the bridge, although she doubted that it would be quite as comfortable.

* * *

The three fighters dipped lower, almost scrapping the upper atmosphere of the planet now. Lieutenant-Commander Schmitt wasn't about to go any lower though, especially considering the amount of dust that seemed to be in the atmosphere. Between the volcanoes and the orbital bombardment, thick clouds of dust had formed high in the lower atmosphere, occasionally blocking the view of the surface below.

He had set out early with two other pilots, eager to scan the surface of the world for any sign of life. The rest of the Rasputin's fighters were still on the flight deck, waiting until their pilots arrived to take them out. Alister had been up early and seeing two other pilots lounging around the ready room, he grabbed them and set off to continue the search.

He wasn't sure if they were going to find anything, in fact would be very surprised if they did, but it was something to do while he was waiting for the rest of the pilots of come on duty in an hours time. Of course, they were actually always of duty, ready to leap in their fighters at a moments notice if the warship was attacked, but during a search like this one, a well-rested mind was just as important.

Alister turned his fighter around, preparing to make the journey back to the other side of the planet, where the Rasputin awaited their return. Just as he did, the distant sun began to peek over the horizon. The glare caught the metallic surfaces of the fighter, a beautiful sight the old fighter pilot always enjoyed seeing. He didn't have time to sit around and enjoy the sights though, and he ordered the other two fighters to follow him and set off towards the warship, making one last pass over the planet.

Just as he began the latest of a series of scans, a bright flash from the planet's surface caught his eye. It only lasted an instant, but it was the first sign of life he had seen from the dull red planet so far. He pressed the transmit button on his com system. "Did you see that," he asked his two wingmen. "A sudden bright flash below us. At two o'clock I think it was."

"No Sir," both pilots replied.

Alister knew he had seen something though, so decided to risk a closer look. The atmosphere below didn't look too thick, compared to the large ash clouds rising over the volcanoes. "I am going down to take a closer look," he said. "You two stay up here for now and keep an eye out for anything interesting."

After his wingmen had indicated that they had heard his orders, Alister pushed his fighter downwards towards the planet's surface. At once, the fighter was pelted with hundreds of tiny particles of dust, but so far nothing large enough to cause any major damage. It would ruin the paintwork, and the fighter would need a complete overhaul before it was used again, but for now it seemed to be flying within the safety margins.

He levelled out at about five hundred metres above the surface; still far enough up to avoid the low hills in the region. This area of the planet seemed to have come under heavy bombardment and much of the surface was pitted with craters from the energy weapons, the entire area looking like it was made of smoked glass. Alister knew that was a common effect after an orbital bombardment, as the silicon in the rock was melted by the heavy weapons used by warships. Then, when the molten rock began to cool, it took on a smooth, glass-like appearance.

Alister pushed his fighter upwards a little, almost doubling its altitude, while at the same time looking around for any sign of what might have cause the flash of light. Then he saw it, a low round shape nestled up against one of the larger hills. It was a bunker set deep in the ground that had somehow managed to survive fierce the bombardment. All around it were craters and devastation, but somehow this small building had survived.

He looked down to examine the readout from the fighter's active sensors and was surprised by the tiny blip on the screen, indicating that the bunker did have a small energy signature. It was not enough to pick up from orbit, and had he not come down into the atmosphere he never would have found it. Flying over the bunker, he dropped a small drone, which sent out a powerful homing signal, onto the ground nearby. After to checking to make sure the signal was coming through loud and clear, he pushed his fighter back up towards space, looking around to make sure he had all the local landmarks seared into his mind just in case.

As he scanned the surface, he noticed something that he hadn't even seen on his first pass over the bunker. A long river of lava was slowly making its way across the surface of Arisia, straight towards the bunker. A little more urgently now, he pushed the fighter faster, ignoring the damage the dust in the atmosphere was doing to the outer hull of the fighter. It could be repaired, but if he took too long to get back to the Rasputin and the lava rolled over the bunker before it could be investigated, then perhaps their only chance to discover what had occurred here would be lost.

* * *

Susan was still on the bridge when Alister Schmitt burst in, fresh out of his fighter. She look one look at the rumpled flight suit he was wearing and asked, "that does not look like regulation uniform Lt. Commander."

"Sorry Captain," Alister replied, not realising she was just teasing him. "I didn't have time to change. This news was too important to wait."

"Well go ahead then," she said, spinning her chair around to face him.

Alister nodded, and after a brief pause to catch his breath, relayed the information about the bunker he had found intact on the surface. Susan was pleased by the news, happy that finally something had paid off. After all, the Rasputin only had limited time here before it was going to be forced to return to Proxima III and join up with the fleet under the command of Vice-Admiral Emmerton. This news was just what she had been looking for.

"Thank you Lt. Commander," she said. "You had better go and get out of that flight suit now, and put two thunderbolts on stand-by, I may have need of them shortly."

"Yes Captain," Alister said, with a sharp salute. He then marched back out of the bridge door and headed off towards the flight deck.

Susan watched him go before turning back to her console and pressing the button that would open a channel to her security officer. Susan had ordered the frequency of the links belonging to each of her commanding officers programmed into her command console on the bridge. That way it was a lot quicker to get in touch with them, instead of waiting for the communication's officer to open a channel each time.

"Yes, what is it," came the reply from the Major, who sound out of breath for some reason.

"Major Logan, I would like to see you on the bridge as soon as possible," Susan said, before closing off the channel and sitting back to look at the planet rotating. Currently the Rasputin was below Arisia 3, on the dark side of the world, while the bunker Lieutenant-Commander Schmitt had located was on the opposite side of the world, right in the searing sunlight. Susan knew it was not perfect, and anyone she sent down there would have extremely harsh conditions to deal with, but it had to be done now. If she waited, then the lava flow the flight commander had mentioned would wipe away any possible evidence.

It took Major Logan nearly five minutes to get to the bridge, a long time considering her quarters, like all of the command staff's, were located on the level below. Susan didn't really notice the time though, busy thinking about the mission she was about to send the Major and her men on. She was so preoccupied with this that she didn't even notice the Major arrive and come to attention, if a little nervously, by her side.

"Captain," a voice called from next to her ear.

Susan turned around and looked at her. "Ah good Major," she said. "It looks like we may have to send a team down to the planet's surface anyway. I want to know if you can operate down there, as I don't want to send anyone to their deaths."

For some reason, Lily looked relived, as if she had expected Susan to reprimand her for something. She straightened her shoulders and her nervousness was replaced with confidence. "We are ready Captain," she replied. "In fact I would personally like to lead the mission."

Susan frowned. "Are you sure Major," she asked. "It may be dangerous down there."

"Nothing I can't handle Captain," Lily replied. Then she paused and hesitated for a moment before continuing. "Dr. Kozlowski has requested that he be included in any mission, either to the surface or into the wreckage floating below us."

Susan's frown deepened. "I am not sure that is a good idea. While attached to the military, he is a civilian and if he is killed down there then I may have to answer for his death."

"I will make a note in the official logs that he requested to go along, and that I advised you to accept his request."

"Well, if you want to make it official..."

"I do," Lily said firmly.

"Then you can take him along," Susan agreed at last. "I recognise the logic of having a specialist like Kozlowski along, but remember this is Kozlowski we are talking about. Try to ensure he doesn't get into any trouble."

"I will personally watch him every moment Captain," Lily assured her.

"Good," Susan replied. "I want you to go and see Lt. Commander Schmitt for the coordinates of the structure we want you to investigate. I need a team assembled as quickly as possible, as this structure is in the path of a lava flow and if we leave it too long it will likely be buried."

The Major nodded. "I will see to it once. I already have a team standing by in the shuttle bay. It is just a matter of collecting the doctor and then taking the shuttle down to the surface. I will need a shuttle pilot though, as none of the men I've chosen for this mission are expert pilots, and given the conditions we will need someone who knows what they are doing."

"See the Lt. Commander about assigning someone suitable," Susan said. "He probably already has someone standing by. However, tell him he is not to go himself. I don't want all my senior officers risking their lives at once."

"I understand, Captain," Lily replied with a quick salute.

"Dismissed then, Major Logan," Susan said as Lily turned to leave, but before the major could depart a sudden though came to Susan and she stopped her. "Just a moment Major. I want you to take the Psi-Cop with you as well."

Lily didn't look happy about that. "Do I have to," she asked.

Susan nodded, a devious smile spreading across her face. This morning she wouldn't have done what she was about to, but after the way Ms. Chang had compared her mother to Anderson she would welcome a bit of suffering on the telepath's part. "I am afraid so Major," she told Lily. "It is her investigation after all, and besides she is a telepath, perhaps she can pick up something from the bunker."

"Very well Captain," Lily replied. "I will go and see her right now." Then with another quick salute she marched off the bridge, looking a little annoyed about having to take the Psi-Cop along with her. Susan wasn't overly concerned though, thinking that a few hours on the hellish world below might do the telepath some good.

* * *

With a burst from its thrusters, the atmospheric shuttle finally made it down onto the hellish surface of Arisia 3. It had been a bumpy ride, as the crew had been forced to sit through nearly ten minutes of turbulence from the rapidly changing atmospheric temperatures. The rise in volcanic activity across the planet had caused severe disruption to the normal weather system, and now large and powerful energy storms were beginning to form over the planet.

No one on the Rasputin was an expert, but the closest explanation anyone could come up with for the cause of the newly appeared storms was the release of particles of Quantium-40 into the atmosphere. Whatever the reason, it reduced the amount of time the landing party could spend on the surface, already limited to a maximum of two hours due to the risk of radiation poisoning. Now, unless the bunker was insulated, they would be forced to spend as little as an hour on the surface before being forced to return to the shuttle and leave.

The shuttle itself had set down on a flat area of rock in front of the bunker. That rock would also serve as the bed for the river of lava that was slowly winding its way down the hillside towards the bunker. Fortunately, the hill's slope was gentle and the flow not particularly strong, and so Major Logan estimated that the team had about four hours before the river arrived. After making a final check of the landscape around the landing site to ensure it was secure, she ordered the team to proceed.

The outer door opened and an extendible ladder dropped slowly down the surface, digging into the hard rock to provide a secure passage to the surface. The marines were first to disembark, so they could check for any obstacles or enemies around before everyone else left the relative safety of the shuttle. Clad in powered radiation suits, they looked a little like giant beetles as they slowly made their way down the ladder.

The suits were certainly not a standard item, restricted to military use only, but they were perfect for this world. Safe within, the marines did not feel most of the 2G pressure; instead the suit's took all the strain. They also had an inbuilt cooling system, something Sarah Chang really would have liked to have when she climbed down a few minutes later, clad only in a standard radiation suit.

The marine quickly scanned the area around the shuttle before making their way slowly across the rocky ground to the bunker. Each of the two men carried a large PPG cannon in their hands. These weapon were normally restricted to ground use only as they were powerful enough to tear holes in the sides of warships. However somehow the Rasputin had been sent a small number and Major Logan believed in being prepared for any eventuality.

Nothing dangerous appeared though and after a quick check of the bunker, which was still in surprisingly good condition, the two marines headed back to the shuttle to assist the rest of the team down to the surface. Apart from Major Logan, Sarah Chang, and Dr. Kozlowski, two other marines made up the team that the Major had put together last night when the Captain had first mention the possibility of a mission to the surface.

Each of the men was experienced with this sort of work, or had skills that Lily thought important to the team. One of her team proved his worth soon after as they realised that the door to the bunker was still locked. Fortunately, the quick application of a lock-picking tool was all that was needed, and everyone piled into the bunker and out of the tremendously hot conditions that had been present on the surface.

Inside was a small airlock, which with everyone now crowded inside was very cramped. Its systems still appeared to be working functioning, but with very little power remaining in the bunker's reserves, it took a few moments before the air was recycled and the inner door opened. Again, the marines went first, to guard against any enemies. However, once again there was no danger awaiting them, just a small room that appeared to be an observation post.

Kozlowski hurried in after them and after checking the radiation readings on a handheld scanner tore off his helmet and took several deep breaths. The rest of the team, except for the marines clad in the radiation suits did the same. Their suits took ten minutes, and a full set of tools to put on, so they would have to remain inside until everyone got back to the Rasputin. Still they were not overly concerned, as at least they did not have to endure the tugging of 2Gs every time they tried to take a step.

"Can you find anything out doctor," Lily asked Kozlowski, after removing her own helmet.

Kozlowski tugged off his gloves and wandered over to look at the computer consoles that lined one wall. "Hmmm," he said, after playing with them for a few seconds. "I believe I can, but I will need a portable reactor from the shuttle before I can access these computers. There is not enough power in her at the moment."

Lily nodded and quickly ordered one of the marines to go back and pick up the necessary part. As he left through the airlock, she turned to the telepath, who was resting against the wall, looking tired after the brief trip across from the shuttle. Of course, on a 2G world every step had a way of making you feel as if you had just taken ten and that short jog was probably the equivalent of a long run.

"Are you all right, Ms. Chang," Lily asked, a little concerned. After all, she didn't want to have to explain how she had managed to get a Psi-Cop killed. That wasn't something the Major looked forward to at all, primarily because of the paper work she would have to fill out.

"I am fine Major," Sarah replied, pulling herself back to her feet and tugging off her helmet and gloves.

"Good," Lily replied. "Can you find out anything?"

"I can try," the Psi-Cop said. "It will take time though." She placed her helmet on the floor and dropped the gloves into it. Then she placed her bare hand on the walls and began to run them along, hoping to pick up some trace of what had happened here. Actually she already knew that there was no psychic imprint to be found, that sort of thing only occurred when someone had died recently, and there was no sign of any dead bodies in the bunker.

In fact, all that was here was a single large room, the airlock and a row of computer consoles that lined one wall, just beneath a series of large windows that now looked out in the direction of the lava flow. Sarah noticed with some concern that it was a lot closer now. In fact, it would not be long before it reached the bunker. She wondered why the Captain had sent her down her, before realising that had they found someone alive, her presence would have sped up any interrogation.

The marine soon returned with the portable fusion reactor and it was hooked up to the bunker's power system. As soon as it was in place and hooked up to the bunker's power cables, the emergency lights that filled the bunker with a dull red glow faded away and were replaced with a soft white light. There was beep from the computer console and then it lit up as well.

"Well doctor," Lily asked. "Is that any help."

"Yes it is," Kozlowski replied. "It appears though that the system has been coded. It will take some time to crack."

"We don't have a lot of time," Lily said, also noticing the approaching lava. "Can you tell if we are going to get anything out of this."

"Yes," Kozlowski answered as his hands and mind worked on the console as quickly as they could. "It appears that it is a communications system for a mining operation that once existed on the plain outside. Somehow whoever destroyed the base missed this system."

"Does it help us at all?" Lily asked. "I mean is there anything useful that we can get out of a communications console."

Kozlowski nodded. "Yes, all the transmissions between the orbiting factories and the mining operation would have been routed through this bunker. It is difficult, but it may be possible to recall some of the data. It shouldn't take more than another half hour."

Lily nodded and went over to the window to watch the approaching lava. It was coming closer every second, but it still looked like it was at least another hour away. Still, she didn't want to be trapped here, so just in case she ordered everyone else back to the shuttle, including the Psi-Cop who looked relieved to be leaving. The shuttle would still be subject to the same gravity, but at least it had nice comfortable seating.

Half an hour later, the doctor was still hard at work, breaking his way through the layers of encryption that had been placed around the data stored deep inside the system. "Are you any closer yet doctor," Lily asked, growing increasingly nervous as each minute passed. "I don't want to be trapped here. We also have nearly reached the end of our safe level of radiation exposure."

"Just about got it," Kozlowski replied. "Two more layers to go. Fortunately, whoever designed this system used a standard Mircotel operation system. That makes it a lot easier to crack."

"It doesn't look easy to me," Lily said as she looked at the furious work the doctor was doing.

"It is if you know what you are doing," he replied. "There, I think I've got it now. Easy when you know what you are doing."

"Good," she said. "Lets get out of here then."

"Just downloading information to a data crystal," Kozlowski said, inserting a small data crystal into a slot on the console. The screen in front of him flooded with data as the computer's memory core was dumped onto the crystal. Fortunately, whoever designed the system did a good job and it took less than two minutes to download the information. Then the two occupants of the bunker put their helmets and gloves back on, hurried out the airlock, and jogged the short distance to the shuttle. Actually, Lily would have preferred to run, but the strong gravity of this world did not allow such luxuries.

As it turned out she had little to worry about and the shuttle was on its way back to the Rasputin before the lava flow arrived. Inside the passenger cabin, those in the lighter radiation suits quickly discarded them, and Dr. Kozlowski got to work on deciphering the information he had recovered.

"Anything interesting?" Sarah asked him from her seat opposite.

The doctor didn't answer at first, instead just looking at something on the screen in front of him. "Oh dear," he said finally. He muttered the same phrase several more times, as he scanned the next two messages he had retrieved.

"What's the matter?" Sarah asked. "Doesn't the information tell us where Anderson is gone after all?"

"Worse than that," Kozlowski said. "It tells us where he is going, and what exactly he is travelling in."

He turned the screen around and Sarah could see a star map on the screen. Carefully marked out were several systems, two of which she recognised as the Sol and Proxima systems. "What does this mean," she asked.

"It means that the companies behind this operation do not intend on just raiding their enemies." Kozlowski paused for a moment and bought up another message, one that displayed a large wire frame schematic of a starship. "They intend on destroying them, along with anyone who works for them."

* * *


	27. Chapter 27

* * *

**19:38, February 20, 2262.**

"Are you sure about this doctor," Susan asked, flicking through the small pile of printouts he had handed her. "This information could just be a red herring to throw us off the track."

"Not with the level of coding that was on it Captain," Kozlowski replied. "I haven't seen anything like that for a long time. However, it was using a standard Microtel system, which is easy enough to get around if you know how."

"And you do?"

Kozlowski nodded, looking extremely pleased with himself. "Indeed Captain. It is what you might call a hobby of mine."

"I am not sure Earth Central would be pleased to learn of your hobby doctor," Susan said with an answering smile. "However, it has helped us out here, so I am sure they will overlook it this time. I am still not exactly sure what all this means though, perhaps you can explain your findings."

Kozlowski hurried over to her side and pointed out the star map he had retrieved. "This shows a list of targets that they intend to hit." He pointed to several markings on the map in order. "You see this is Listening Post Serene, which we already know has been destroyed. And this is Flinn Colony, and then you can see Proxima III and finally Earth itself."

"I know how to read the map doctor," Susan replied. "However what I don't understand is how they intend on doing any damage. Flinn colony was, and probably still is, one of the most secure bases in the entire Alliance. Even the Minbari had trouble there during the war. So how does Anderson, with just one ship, hope to take it on?"

The doctor tugged another large printout from lower down on the pile and showed it to the Captain. "Here, this one shows their vessel. As you can see, it's a lot larger than anything we have encountered before."

Susan took the page and looked at the diagram unconvinced. "Is this all you managed to retrieve Dr. Kozlowski? It is not a lot to go on."

"I agree," Kozlowski said. "However they have already managed to take out one base, that much is already part of the record."

"An undefended base," Susan reminded him.

"Yes, but a well hidden and protected one." He paused and took a closer look at the diagram on the page. "I think what we are dealing with here is some sort of large weapon, possible a mass driver, or something similar."

"A mass driver?" Susan exclaimed in surprise. "We haven't seen any of them in use since the war between the Narn and the Centauri. Are you sure that is what Anderson is using."

The doctor nodded in confirmation. "That would be my guess, a large mass driver used as the main weapon of a warship. If it was large enough, it could do considerable damage."

A frown formed on Susan's brow as she considered his words. "Exactly how large are we talking here doctor?"

Kozlowski shrugged. "I am not sure. The schematics we retrieved are lacking any measurements that might enable us to determine the correct dimensions. At a guess, I would say possible at least four, maybe five kilometres long, although that is only an educated guess. The Centauri mass drivers were considerably smaller, and if the entire ship were devoted to this single weapon then I would imagine that we would be looking at something with the power of maybe five or six of the Centauri models. "

"And the fighters?" Susan queried. "So far all we have seen is a few fighters, although judging by what I have seen around this planet, I am willing to agree that something fairly big has been going on here. However, to build a warship of that size is not what I would have imagined. Out of all the alien races only the Vorlons and Shadows had the resources of inclination to develop vessels larger than those in Earth's fleet, so for Anderson and his megacorp buddies to come up with something like this is almost unbelievable. We are talking about something that is nearly the size of an explorer ship here."

"Yes, it would appear so, Captain. Perhaps that is a little unrealistic to imagine something of this size could have been built here without anyone discovering it before now, but it is still worth checking out, wouldn't you agree."

Susan nodded slowly. "Yes I would doctor." She turned to the communications officer. "Lieutenant, open a channel to Flinn Colony."

"Yes Captain," was the reply and then after nearly a minute, the lieutenant turned back to Susan. "I am sorry Captain, there doesn't seem to be any response."

"How is that possible," Susan replied, a little worried that she might already now the answer. "Try again, and keep trying until you get something or I tell you to stop." She turned around to face Kozlowski again. "Well doctor, it seems that you may be correct. If you are right and they are using a mass driver as a weapon, then that would explain the loss of communications. We should proceed at once to Flinn Colony and find out what exactly is going on there. If they are under attack, they may need our help."

"I would advise against that Captain," Kozlowski said, shaking his head.

Susan frowned, annoyed that the doctor was questioning her judgment. "You would, would you? Why is that Dr. Kozlowski? If the colony is under attack then we should go there at once to see what is going on. If we wait it may be too late. There are people's lives at stake after all, several thousand if I remember correctly."

"It is on the other side of the Earth Alliance, Captain," he reminded her. "I would suggest instead informing Earth Central of our findings while we head back to Proxima. It is, after all, the next planet on the list, and if Flinn Colony has already been hit, we will serve the Alliance better by going on to Proxima III."

Susan considered the suggestion for a moment before nodding in agreement. "Good idea doctor. I will need to contact Earthdome though, and let them know what is going on. Do you mind sticking around and explaining your findings to the Admiral. I am not really up to date on starship construction."

"Of course Captain."

"Good," Susan replied, looking over at the communication's officer who was still trying to raise Flinn Colony. "Lieutenant, open a secure link to Earthdome, Admiral Mellor's office."

"Yes Captain," the young officer replied. "Opening a channel now."

Realising it would take a few minutes for the link to be established, she sat back and skimmed through the printouts the doctor had given her. She had been sceptical at first, not really wanting to believe that a group of companies, even big megacorps like Microtel and the Jupiter Mining Corporation could be responsible for such carnage. However, if the information the doctor had retrieved was correct, then they were planning to kill nearly a million people on Proxima, and at the same time wipe out all their rival companies, most of whom were based in the Proxima system.

Even the Shadows and Vorlons, who had destroyed entire worlds in their war, had done so for a cause, albeit a very perverted one, but this was just for money. Of course, the doctor could still be wrong, Susan wasn't sure that what he had explained was correct. The star maps she had understood, but the rest of the printouts were complete gibberish to her, and out of everyone on board, only Dr. Kozlowski, highly skilled in starship design, had really understood what the information meant. She would just have to trust his judgment, and as she sat there waiting for the link to be established, she suddenly realised exactly how little she knew about the doctor.

* * *

Commander Petrov stepped out of the quiet hallway outside the bridge into a madhouse. Everyone seemed to be shouting orders at once and running from one console to another, their arms piled high with data pads, clipboards, and other items. In the centre of this confusion, he could see the captain, currently talking to the Chief Engineer, Philip Moore.

"Can it be done Chief," Susan was asking him.

The tall Polynesian engineer rubbed his jaw as if considering the question. Finally, looking none to convinced, he said, "Perhaps Captain, but the engines have not been tested fully yet. We don't want to put too much strain on them."

"Do it anyway," she replied. "We need as much speed out of this ship as you can muster. I want her back in orbit around Proxima III in less than thirty six hours."

"I will do what I can Captain," Moore replied, before hurrying past Petrov, shaking his head and muttering darkly as he walked.

Petrov followed the engineer with his eyes for a second before looking back to the Captain, who was now noting something down on a data pad one of the bridge crew had passed her. He walked over to her side. "Captain," he demanded. "What the hell is going on around here?"

Susan looked up, a little surprised to see him. "Commander," she said. "There you are, I was about to call you."

"That doesn't explain what is happening here," he said pointedly, looking around at the busy crewmembers.

"Sorry," Susan replied. "I forgot I haven't had time to inform you yet."

"Inform me about what?" Petrov asked, worry lines beginning to form on his forehead.

"We have been ordered back to Proxima... urgently," she told him. "I have just spoken to Admiral Mellor, and he agrees with the information that Dr. Kozlowski has found and has ordered us back to defend Proxima III against a possible attack."

"Another attack?" he asked. "With more fighters?"

Susan shook her head. "No, Commander, if it was just a few more fighters, then there would not be a problem. Based on the evidence Dr. Kozlowski recovered from the communications console on the planet below, he has conceded that there is a risk, or at least a possible risk, of a major assault on the planet, possibly with a new class warship."

"What! By the companies that Major Logan mentioned?" Petrov asked with a disbelieving air about him. "I can't imagine that anything they can come up would pose a threat."

"That is what I thought to start with Commander. But after listening to Kozlowski I thought it best to contact Earthdome, and Admiral Mellor agrees with the doctor, at least enough to order us to return to Proxima. I am just recalling all the fighters and search teams right now. We should be under way in a few minutes."

Petrov nodded, understanding at last why the bridge was so busy. The preparation for a sudden departure must have caught the crew off guard a little, and they were struggling to catch up. There was always a lot to do when preparing to leave orbit, especially when you had to recall fighters and shuttles. "What do you want me to do, Captain," he asked at last, fingering the report he had spent the past hour writing up.

Susan noticed his fidgeting and the report in his hands. "Well the first thing you can do is take that report on Dr. Taylor's murder to Sarah Chang, I think you will find her resting in her quarters. And then you can get back here and assist me."

"Yes Captain," Petrov replied with a smart salute.

"Just a minute Commander," she said, stopping him before he left. "Did you discover who was responsible for the murder?"

"Yes, Captain, it appears very likely that it was Mr. Anderson who was responsible. Doctor Habbib discovered that Taylor was a telepath, so she probably found out what Anderson was up to, and he killed her for it. We found a phial of the poison in his quarters. They are now Ms. Chang's quarters of course, which didn't make it easy to search."

"The doctor was a telepath?" Susan said, her mind reeling in confusion. "How could that be? Only Psi-Corps representatives are supposed to be on board."

Petrov shrugged. "All I know is that her blood has the DNA marker that indicates telepathic potential. It is possible that she didn't know her abilities existed, or she may have been a rogue telepath. Either way, it isn't much use for us now, unless she was an agent of Anderson's."

Susan nodded slowly, indicating that Petrov could leave. Perhaps it was possible that Dr. Taylor was like her, a latent telepath who had managed to hide her abilities, but for some reason Susan didn't believe that. The feeling she had sensed when she had touched the bare arm of the doctor in the lift came back to her. Suddenly it all made sense. She had somehow managed to detect the sense of hatred from the doctor's mind, hatred directed at Susan herself. It had been very strong, and she realised now that the strength was due to the telepathic ability of the doctor's mind. She might not be able to scan normals with any great success, but Susan was beginning to realise that she had no trouble at all sensing a telepath's thoughts when they were that close to her.

She had wondered why the doctor would have cause to hate her, but if she was working for Anderson, then it all made sense, or did it. Susan couldn't think of any reason that Anderson would hate her. He would now, if she had truly discovered his plans, but back then he had not seemed overly concerned with her. If Dr. Taylor was his agent, then that begged the question of why he had killed her. Assuming, then, that she wasn't Anderson's agent, that left only the possibility of the doctor being a rogue telepath, and Susan wasn't entirely convinced that was correct yet either.

She sighed and turned back to her work. Psi-Corps would probably try to take an active role in the investigation now, maybe even Bester himself. At least if Anderson was responsible, that would shift the blame away from her crew and towards someone who was already wanted by Psi-Corps, at least she assumed he was, Susan didn't think even the Psi-Corp would sanction the murder of thousands of innocents, at least not openly. Any further investigation would have to wait though. Right now, she had far more important problems to deal with.

* * *

By the time Commander Petrov returned from speaking with the Psi-Cop, the Rasputin was already in Hyperspace, and heading for Proxima III at maximum speed. Dr. Kozlowski had also turned up again, after having headed back to engineering to make minor adjustments to the engines when he had finished explaining his findings to Admiral Mellor. This time he bought with him more pages of data, calculations of some sort, at least that is what they looked like to Susan.

Susan held up her hand to stop him speaking, determined to hear the rest of Petrov's report, no matter how desperate the doctor looked. "Please Continue Commander," she said. "What did Ms. Chang say then?"

"Well, after I handed over the report and told her what it had contained, she looked angry more than anything. It was almost as if she already knew that the doctor was a telepath. She didn't seem surprised that Anderson had been responsible either. I think there may be more going on here than she is telling us."

"I agree Commander," Susan said, her mind working overtime to try to work out what relationship there could have been between the Psi-Cop and the doctor. Certainly, it hadn't taken Chang long after she had disembarked before she found her way to sickbay. That would suggest that she probably already knew Taylor, and then the Psi-Cop had pushed to be included in the investigation, which was even more unusual. A suspicion was beginning to form in Susan's mind, one that she didn't like one little bit. Sometime soon, she was going to have a long talk to Ms. Chang.

"Do you want me to look into it further then, Captain," her executive officer asked.

Susan shook her head. "Not right at the moment," she replied. "We have more important things to deal with right now. This vessel could be going into combat in less than two days time and I want everything to be ready. I am putting you in charge of ensuring that, while I keep and eye on things up here. Coordinate with Lt. Commanders Dreyer and Schmitt, as well as Major Logan, and see if you can't come up with some drills that they can conduct here in Hyperspace. I am not authorising fighter launches though, that is just too risky."

"Yes Captain," Petrov said, looking almost pleased to be given the responsibility. "I will get onto it right away. I assume you would like a report before we arrive at Proxima?"

She nodded. "Yes, Commander, I want to know what we have to work with, just in case. We still don't know what exactly is going on, but if we do have to go into battle, I want this warship to perform better than any other ship in the fleet."

"You can count on me Captain," Petrov replied with another perfect salute.

Susan saluted casually in return, and indicated that he was dismissed. He quickly hurried off the bridge and Susan was left to deal with Dr. Kozlowski was standing eagerly nearby, with another stack of printouts in his hands. Susan briefly wondered why he didn't use data pads like Petrov and most of the other officers; they were a little bit easier to deal with than the piles of paper he kept bringing her. Seeing she was free again, he stepped forward.

"Was is it now, doctor," Susan asked before he could begin to speak. Kozlowski handed her several sheets of paper, all of which were covered with large charts and diagrams. "What exactly is all this?" Susan said, waving the papers around. "I am not sure I understand any of this."

Kozlowski didn't seem fazed by that. "They are my latest calculations, Captain," he told her. "I have spent the last hour working on them."

"And they tell me what exactly?"

"Well after we had finished talking to the Admiral I decided to make some calculations to determine the relative power of the vessel we may be dealing with. After all, if we are going to have to face it in battle, I assumed you would want to be bought up to date on everything there is to know about it."

Now Susan was interested, and she leaned forward so she could hear him better. "That is more like it, doctor," she said. "What can you tell me?"

Kozlowski pulled out the first piece of paper. "Well, as I said early, this is a very large vessel, perhaps larger than anything an Earthforce destroyer has faced before. However, this size means that it is also very slow and cumbersome and, based on the current attacks it has made so far, and the distances between each, I have calculated that it may be another two days before it makes it to Proxima III. I'm assuming that it has been travelling at maximum speed, of course."

"Assuming the map you found is correct," Susan reminded him. "I am still not sure that they would let us get hold of it so quickly."

"Well I did wonder about that too Captain," the doctor said. "After all, the bunker we investigated was originally thought to be a mining communications bunker. I have examined the data I have collected more fully now though, and believe that the bunker may actually have been a major rely station for their communications network between the various stations. I don't know why it was down on the planet, but there were a number of messages stored in its database that had nothing at all to do with mining. Of course, it might also have been malfunctioning and picking up things it wasn't supposed to, but I think it more likely that it was being used to rely communications, possibly over a secure channel."

"Well it is all we have to go on for now," Susan said. "And Admiral Mellor seems to think it is genuine. Of course, he may know something I don't. Although I may be putting too much trust in Earthforce intelligence here."

"Well, I will stand by my information Captain," Kozlowski assured her. "I have checked out the schematics I discovered and after running some models through my computer I've concluded that it is possible that such a ship could be built. There are still a few things I am unsure about, especially the outer hull, but the reactor capacity and general design listed on the schematics matches that of a large Mass Driver, a very large one."

"Well, we will find out soon enough doctor," Susan replied.

Further discussion was cut off by the voice of the communications officer. "Captain, I have a gold channel communication from Admiral Mellor's office in Earthdome," she said.

"Put it through, Lieutenant," Susan said, turning away from Kozlowski to look at the console in front of her and typing in her code to accept the message.

The Earth Alliance logo on the central screen vanished, and it was quickly replaced by the stern face of Admiral Mellor. "Captain," he said grimly. "I have just received word from the vessel we sent to Flinn Colony. What Dr. Kozlowski suspected seems to have come true and the colony has been destroyed."

"Any survivors at all," Susan asked in shock.

The Admiral nodded. "Fortunately yes. Some of the outer mines and two scout parties in crawlers have been located so far. One of the scouts gave a good description of what happened. Based on that description, and the damage that has been done, we have concluded that it is likely that a mass driver or similar weapon was responsible."

He paused for breath, and for the first time Susan could see the strain that he was under showing. The Admiral was, after all, responsible for the protection of the outer colonies. To allow one to be destroyed, along with thousands of colonists, meant that many questions were going to be asked. "What now then, Admiral," she asked.

"We have considered mustering everything we have and sending it to Proxima, but that might just be what this Anderson character wants us to do. We still don't know a lot about his motives, and Psi-Corps hasn't been any help at all. This might all be a trick to make us pull our forces away from Earth and send them off to Proxima. However, we can't afford to leave either system undefended, or Mars for that matter. So that leaves us with too many worlds to defend, and not enough ships to go around."

"You are sending some ships though, aren't you Admiral," Susan asked, but at the same time beginning to wonder if the Rasputin would be the only vessel left to defend an entire planet.

"Of course, Captain," Mellor replied. "The Apollo and Vesta have been recalled from their patrol, along with every other vessel within range. In addition, Vice-Admiral Emmerton is on her way with a small fleet. We don't know how long this enemy vessel is going to take to get to Proxima. For all we know it could already be there, but we are sending all the ships we can spare. We still have thirty destroyers around Earth right now, and another seven at Mars. That will leave Emmerton with at least another seven, depending on how many make it back from patrol in time."

"We will have to make do then Admiral," Susan said. She didn't know if she was relieved or concerned that more destroyers were not being sent to Proxima. If the information Kozlowski had recovered turned out to be a ruse and Anderson was after either Earth or Mars, then the caution shown by Earthforce would prove to be correct. If, however, the target was Proxima after all, and it was left under defended then Earthforce would have more than two million dead on its hands. Assuming that is what Anderson planned on doing and, given the destruction of Flinn Colony, she could easily seeing him proceeding with the slaughter of the people of Proxima.

"One last thing, Captain," Mellor said. "I want you to act as Emmerton's second in command. I know there are other higher ranking officers, but I think your experience might count for more if a battle does start."

"Thank you Admiral," Susan replied, although she was a little surprised that he would give her so much responsibility. After all, it had only been a few months ago that she had been fighting on the other side in a civil war. Still, she wasn't about to turn down his offer because of that. She was willing to forget and forgive if Earthforce was, especially given the responsibility they were giving her now.

"Link in with Vice-Admiral Emmerton as soon as you arrive at Proxima," he told her. "I will contact you again if there is anything important to report. Earthdome out."

As the screen went black, Susan turned away and looked towards the front of the vessel. Ahead she could see nothing except Hyperspace, but somewhere, far in the distance, was the beacon that indicated Proxima's jumpgate. It was at least another day away, and despite the extra energy being pumped into the engines, she was worried that they may not make it there in time. Certainly, if only a few destroyers were going to be made available for the defence of the planet, then the Rasputin had to be there. Its powerful weapons, not to mention the four squadrons of Starfuries, might make all the difference in a battle.

Based on what Kozlowski had told her, they faced a powerful foe, but she doubted that one single vessel, no matter how large, could take on an entire fleet of Earthforce Destroyers. Although, after the things she had seen in the Shadow War, she wouldn't be surprised by anything. After all, those fighters had used an alien propulsion system, and if the warship they were preparing to face was using more alien, possible even Shadow, technology then they might face a more deadly foe than the Admiral and Kozlowski imagined. Those troubling thoughts on her mind, she turned back to her discussion with Dr. Kozlowski, even more eager now to learn anything that could assist them if it came to a fight.

* * *

Bester looked tired to Sarah as she made her report. The Psi-Cop had obviously been very busy over the previous two days, probably with the search for Kiel's allies. "Have you discovered anything new Ms. Chang," was Bester's first question as soon as he recognised the caller.

"Quite a bit, Sir," she replied, with an almost smug grin on her face. "I have discovered who killed Dr. Taylor, as well as some of what Kiel appears to be up to."

Bester looked more than a little surprised at the news, and quickly indicated for his assistant to continue with her report. He hadn't expected her to achieve much at all on her mission, and to have results so quickly was certainly a lot more than he had expected.

"It appears that Anderson was responsible for your agent's death," she informed Bester, while at the same time sending him Petrov's report, minus any mention of the Commander's efforts of course. "I asked the new chief medical officer to check for any possible poisons, not just to common ones, and he discovered traces of an obscure Centauri poison in the heart muscle of Dr. Taylor. I remembered the package that Anderson picked up from Mr. Hill and did a search of the quarters he had on the Rasputin, and turned up a phial of the poison. Putting two and two together, it was fairly easy to conclude that Anderson had been responsible."

"Good work Ms. Chang," Bester said. "And what about the matter of Kiel's plans. You said you had information."

Sarah nodded, sending on a second file, this one containing the information Kozlowski had recovered. "I was able to retrieve this information from a bunker on the surface, with the help of one of the Rasputin's crew." She decided not to stretch the truth too far, and give at least a little credit to Kozlowski. She didn't want to give the Rasputin's crew too much credit though, especially after the Captain had sent her down to that hell of a world for the slimmest of reasons. She deserved to get as much out of the whole thing as she could.

Bester stared at the screen in front of him, which currently displayed the diagram of Kiel's warship. "What is this?" he asked.

"I am not exactly sure Sir," Sarah replied. "Earthforce believes that it is some sort of new warship that Kiel and his companions have built. There was also some talk about several of the large megacorporations helping out, although I haven't seen any proof of that yet."

"I have," Bester cut in. "That is what I have been looking into for the past two days. It seems that Anderson has been the recipient of large donations from several of the megacorps, a considerable amount of money indeed."

Sarah nodded. "That could be what was used to fund the building of the warship that is shown in the information I sent you. Earthforce also believes that it has been used against two colonies already, although again I haven't had confirmation of those reports yet." Sarah had not been privy to the discussions between Admiral Mellor and Susan, but had heard some of the crew discussing what was occurring and had filled in the blanks.

Bester frowned. "I always knew he was mad," the Psi-Cop said. "But I didn't think he was that mad. Any idea on where he is going next? I assume that if he has already attacked two colonies, he will not stop there. Kiel never did know when to call it a day."

Sarah thought back to the discussion between the three crewmembers she had stumbled across. "Proxima, I believe, Sir," she said, while at the same time crossing her fingers and hoping like hell she was correct. The crewmembers she had overheard had mentioned both Earth and Proxima, so she was making a guess here.

Bester seemed to accept her guess though, nodding in agreement. "Yes," he said. "That is where I would hit next too. If he does enough damage to Proxima III, he could knock out a lot of competition for the megacorps. I will have to get my agents on Earth to do a little scouting for me, to see exactly what those companies are up to."

"What about me Sir," Sarah asked. "Is there anything else you want me to do now? Or should I leave the ship when we arrive on Proxima and return to Mars?"

Her superior thought for a moment, mulling over the various aspects of what he had just learned before making a decision. "Stick with the Rasputin for now Ms. Chang. I will book passage on the next liner to Proxima, there should be one leaving in a few hours, and meet you there. I shouldn't be longer than a couple of days at the most."

"And if Kiel and this ship of his arrives before you do?"

"Then I want you to assist Ivanova as much as you can in stopping his plans. I might not have much respect for Earthforce or the new president, but I certainly don't want someone like Kiel calling the shots." Bester paused and thought for a moment. "However, I would like him taken alive if possible, there are a lot of questions I would like to ask Mr. Kiel and I am looking forward to asking them."

"I will do my best, Sir," Sarah replied.

"I am sure you will, Ms. Chang," the Psi-Cop replied. "Bester out."

Sarah smiled as the screen went black. She had done well today; managing to elevate herself in Bester's opinion, even if not everything she had given him had been her own work. She was sure Commander Petrov wouldn't mind. After all, he would get the credit from Earthforce, she would get credit from Psi-Corps and as neither organization ever communicated, her duplicity would never be discovered.

Sarah was a very happy woman as she put aside the two data crystals and set off for the dining room. It had been a good day, and despite the rather horrible trip down to the planet, having to endure the heat and radiation, she had come out on top again. All she had to do now was capture Kiel, or rather get Ivanova to capture him, and her future as a Psi-Cop was secure, and all before her twenty first birthday.

* * *

Anderson walked carefully onto the bridge of the Enlightener, careful not to disturb Kiel, who was sleeping in his command chair as usual. He failed though, and the former Psi-Cop looked up before he had even made it half way across the room. _'What is it now Darren,'_ came Kiel's thoughts, a little lighter than usual because the telepath's mind was still half asleep.

 _'Reports from our agents in Earthdome, Sir,'_ he replied, telepathically, to keep the few crew on the bridge from hearing.

 _'What do they say,'_ Kiel asked, growing more alert now.

_'It is a problem, Sir. It seems that Earthforce is sending destroyers to Proxima III. Our agents are not sure, but they believe that it is possible that they are on to us.'_

_'How many destroyers,'_ Kiel asked, his mind broadcasting his sudden interest.

 _'Our agents thinks that it is five at the moment,'_ Anderson replied. _'Although they also say that the destroyers stationed around Earth have been put on high alert.'_

Kiel yawned. _'I don't see the problem. Five destroyers are not enough to shop us now, especially as we designed this vessel to take on the entire fleet if necessary. Our fighter screen will take care of them in a matter on minutes, and if we destroy five now, that means less later when we go to Earth.'_

 _'Yes Sir,'_ Anderson said. _'This was why I didn't really want to disturb you now. I was just bringing in the report to place on your console so you could review it at your leisure.'_

_'I see. Well, it is too late now. Give me the report and I will look at it now. You, on the other hand, need some sleep. You have been up too long already. Your mind will not be as alert and strong if you do not get your sleep.'_

_'Yes Sir,'_ Anderson said. _'I will go to my quarters at once.'_

 _'Good,'_ Kiel replied, turning his attention to the report. His mind concentrating on the information on the screen in front of him he missed the strange look that Anderson gave him as his assistant left the bridge. Kiel quickly tired of the report though, realising that it contained little of interest, so he tossed it aside. As he had said to Kiel, even if Earthforce sent their entire fleet, he would still win. It might be one ship against many, but his vessel was stronger and more powerful than anything else in existence was. Its powerful weapons, including several clusters of heavy plasma cannons positioned along the hull, would enable the Enlightener to easily destroy any vessel that survived the fighter attack.

Snuggling back down in his seat he went back to his dreams of the battle that would be fought tomorrow, and after that, to the day when Earth surrendered to him and he would be elected pres... No, wait, Emperor. After all, it would be a new powerful Earth under his rule, and so a new title was needed. 'Yes,' he thought. 'I will like being an emperor.'

* * *

**08:17, February 22, 2262.**

The jumpgate orbiting Proxima III lit up for the third time in as many hours as the Rasputin made its way back into normal space. To the surprise of most of her crew, with the notable exception of Dr. Kozlowski whose faith in his creation remain unshakable, the warship had made a lot better time than even Susan might have hoped for. It had taken just under thirty-three hours for the return trip from Arisia 3, not quite as fast as it would have been in a Whitestar, but still pretty fast when compared to most of Earth's fleet. The same voyage would have taken a civilian vessel perhaps as long as a week. Back in engineering, the Chief Engineer, Philip Moore, was mopping his brow in relief, pleased that nothing had gone wrong with the six huge engines. They were, after all, still untested when it came to exactly how much thrust could be pulled out of them, and he had exceeded the recommend safety limits by at least twenty percent.

They were here now though, and from her position on the bridge, Susan could see the large planet hanging in space, looking almost serene against the darkness of the void. The Rasputin's scanners however had already picked up the familiar shapes of two Omega class destroyers, and one of the old Hyperion class vessels, in orbit around the world. There were no signs of any other military vessels, so Susan assumed that Vice-Admiral Emmerton and her fleet had not yet arrived. Fortunately, neither had the enemy vessel, assuming that it was bound for Proxima and not Earth or one of the smaller colonies.

With Earth's fleet reduced to around sixty capital ships, down from the more than two hundred that had existed before the civil war, few colonies had much in the way of protection right now. Most vessels were in a protective orbit around Earth and Mars, while the rest were either currently on patrol along the Alliance's borders, or on the way to join the small fleet gathering near Proxima. It seemed that not everyone was bound for Proxima though. In the distance, Susan could see the large shapes of three star liners orbiting around the planet. They were probably here to evacuate part of the population in case the destroyers were not enough to hold off any attack.

"Captain, incoming message from Proxima government," the communications officer called out. "It is President Mitrovic."

"Put him through," She replied looking down to her console as the screen there cleared to display the chubby, but not at all cheerful looking, face of the Proxima President. "President Mitrovic," she said crisply "How can I help you."

"Is it true?" he asked in a worried voice. "Earthforce is telling me that it is possible that some sort of warship might be on its way to attack my planet."

"It looks likely," Susan told him, not seeing any reason to cover up what might happen. "However, Earth is sending a fleet, and we should be able to deal with it before it causes any damage to your world."

He looked a little more relieved now, mopping away the sweat that had beaded on his forehead with a bright red handkerchief. "I am happy to hear that Captain. The way Earthforce was talking, it was as if Proxima had already fallen to an enemy attack. They said something about two other colonies already being destroyed."

"Well, I am afraid that part is true, Mr. President," Susan said. "One of Earthforce's deep space listening posts has vanished and Flinn Colony also has been attacked. Details are still sketchy on both attacks though."

The President's worried look returned at the mention of Flinn Colony. "Are you sure Proxima is safe then Captain? Flinn Colony was an old military base, but we have always been a civilian colony. Are our defences secure enough to stand against an attack?"

"That is why we are here," Susan replied. "Earthforce is sending another five or six destroyers as well. That will give us a total of around nine capital ships, plus fighters. That should be enough to stop any single warship quite easily."

Mitrovic didn't look total convinced, but nodded anyway. "I hope you are right Captain. There are two million people down here who will die if you are wrong."

"And there are a lot of good soldiers up here who will be just as dead, Mr. President," Susan reminded him sharply. "I can assure that the only way anything is going to happen to Proxima is if they get past us first."

The President nodded again. "I realise that Captain, the people of Proxima know that you will do everything in your power to stop this. If there is anything I can do to assist, I will. This is, after all, my world and I was elected to serve the people of Proxima. Perhaps I could come aboard your vessel and watch the battle from there."

"I don't think that will be necessary," Susan replied, a little quicker than she intended. In her opinion, there were already too many civilians on board, and although Dr. Kozlowski had finally turned out to a lot more help than hindrance, she certainly didn't want anyone else on board if she could help it. "However, there is something you can do."

"What is that, Captain," Mitrovic said, an eager look crossing his face. Obviously, the thought of having his world, not to mention his position, destroyed was beginning to bring out some of the qualities that had led the people of Proxima to vote for the President in the first place.

"You can send any fighters currently based on the planet to assist the fleet. I assume those twelve thunderbolt Starfuries are still at their base."

Mitrovic nodded. "Yes Captain they are, and their pilots arrived just a couple of days ago from Earth. I will go and speak to the Colonel to ensure that they are in space as soon as possible."

"Thank you," Susan said. "I am sure they will be of great assistance to us."

"They will in the air before the hour is out, Captain," Mitrovic assured her. "I will go and organise it personally."

Susan nodded. "You do that, Mr. President. I will take care of what has to be done up here. Ivanova out."

She quickly shut down the link before Mitrovic could continue. Based on her past experience she knew the President liked to talk, usually about minor, unimportant details, and had she let him he would have probably continued for another half an hour or more. This way she would get those fighters now, and not have to wait. She was sure the president meant well, but he had a way of dragging out any conversation. Susan wondered if that was why he was elected President. After all, as president Mitrovic would have the most contact with Earth now, and the people of Proxima might not want to make things easy for any Earth officials, especially after the way Clark had treated the colony during the war. So they elected the most annoying candidate they could find, just to teach Earthdome a lesson.

Still, she didn't have time to worry about minor matters like that now. Looking up from the screen she turned to Lieutenant Heneker, the young communications officer. "Lieutenant," she said, attracting the red-haired woman's attention.

"Yes Captain," Heneker asked, looking up from her work.

"Get Captain James of the Apollo on the link as soon as you can. There are some things I need to discuss with him."

Heneker nodded and turned to her console, opening a channel to the other destroyer. Susan sat back and waited. If there was going to be a battle, she wanted to know exactly what she had to work with. She was sure that Vice-Admiral Emmerton would have her own ideas, but she wasn't here yet and if the enemy warship showed up before the rest of the fleet arrived, then she was in charge and so she needed to know as much as she could about the other vessels already here, just in case.

* * *


	28. Chapter 28

* * *

On the bridge of the Enlightener Harvey Kiel was watching the viewscreen very closely. In one corner of the screen, a series of numbers was slowly counting down the distance across Hyperspace to the Proxima beacon. It was close now, very close, and soon his warship would come leaping out of Hyperspace, ploughing through the few weak defenders sent by Earthforce. Then it would level the two major settlements of Proxima III and disappear back into Hyperspace like a thief in the night. It was going be a glorious day, and one that Kiel had looked forward to for some time now.

If fact, all through the large crew of the warship, from the bridge officers all the way down to the large contingent of soldiers, an air of excitement was beginning to build. Most of the men and woman serving on the bridge were those who had been assigned to the most loyal ships in Clark's fleet, or had been members of Nightwatch. The Nightwatch had been one of Kiel's personal projects, one to which he had devoted all of his energies. Therefore, when this opportunity had come along, he had called up those still loyal to serve their world again.

Of course, he had his telepaths conduct loyalty checks to ensure that none harboured and allegiance to anyone other than him. However, considering the way most of those now in his employ had been quietly removed from their positions by the new President when she had come to office, almost all had remained loyal to him. Of course, there would always be a few who were disloyal and too caught up with feelings of remorse over what they had done under Clark. Those weaklings had been eliminated quickly, and now the crew ran like a well-oiled machine.

To Kiel, it was a vindication of his entire plan. A few would have to die, but fear would force the rest to soon fall into line. Of course, the telepaths he had stationed at every major duty post helped to ensure the loyalty of his crew. No one could even think about acting against him if their thoughts were being listened to by a telepath. Soon the theories he had put into practice here would spread across the Alliance and he could begin to reshape the destiny of man once more.

The former Psi-Cop smiled as he imagined what was to come. A telepath stationed on every street corner to keep the normals under control, while he worked to build a better society for everyone. Of course, like on his own ship, a few would have to be made an example of before everyone would accept his rule. In this first example, Proxima III was going to have to die. As he watched the distance to the beacon slowly decreasing, he felt his own excitement growing. Soon the last stage of his plan would begin, and he would be ready to move on to Earth.

"Sir," came Anderson voice as it cut into his thoughts.

Kiel looked over at his assistant, who had just arrived, two data pads in his hands. "Why is it that the only time I even seem to see you lately, Darren, is when you have some sort of report to bring me," he asked aloud.

"Perhaps it is because I am busy finding out all I can about what we are to face," his assistant replied, handing him the two data pads. "These are the latest reports from our agents on Proxima III."

Kiel glanced at them for a second and them tossed them onto the console in front of him. _'I am not interested in reading right now,'_ he told Anderson, switching to telepathic speech. _'Why don't you tell me what they say and that way I can better decide if they are worth my time or not.'_

 _'Yes Sir,'_ Anderson replied with a sigh. He wished Kiel would take the threat of Earthforce more seriously. Anderson was not as convinced as Kiel that they could so easily be brushed aside, especially considering the unknown abilities of the Rasputin. He hadn't been able to access the ship's database when he had been on board, and although he had managed to tap into the sensors and communication system, the central computer had remained out of his reach. Given what little he had discovered though, he knew the vessel would not be so easy to destroy as the older destroyers, especially as its capabilities were so unknown.

 _'Well Darren,'_ Kiel said looking at Anderson suspiciously. _'I am waiting.'_

 _'Sorry Sir,'_ Anderson was quick to reply. _'I was just trying to recall which parts of the report were important enough to repeat to you. In the interest of saving time of course.'_

 _'Ah of course,'_ Kiel said with an understanding nod. _'Get on with it then. We will be at Proxima soon and if there is anything there that can threaten us I want to know now so we can destroy it first.'_

Anderson nodded and then began his report. _'As you may be aware Sir, most of our agents have just left Proxima and the few remaining are on the next liner out, with the exception of Mr. Hill of course. I have taken the liberty of having him eliminated as punishment for letting that Psi-Cop find him.'_

Kiel nodded, pleased at that little piece of news. _'A very good Idea Darren, just what I would have done. I do not want disloyal telepaths working for me when I am in charge. Had I thought of it, then that is what I would have ordered you to do."_

Anderson had actually been a little bit more concerned about his own skin when he had ordered Hill killed. After all, if everything went wrong and they were captured, he intended to plead his innocence and Hill was one of the few people who could link him to anything he had actually done wrong. For the moment though, he went along with Kiel's line of thought and nodded in agreement.

 _'The few agents who were left on Proxima have reported on the numbers of Earthforce vessels as they boarded their liners,"_ Anderson continued. _'They report that there are currently only three destroyers around Proxima and one of them is an old Hyperion class vessel, which is no threat at all. The government is expecting more destroyers, including the Rasputin to arrive shortly, but if we hurry we may be able to beat them there and take out the defenders with little trouble.'_

 _'I think I might have found your other vessels Darren,'_ Kiel said suddenly, only half listening to his assistant's report. The rest of his attention was focused on the view screen, which was now showing six tiny dots off in the distance. "Zoom in on those ships," he called to one of the bridge crew.

The crewman quickly complied zooming the image on the view screen until it was possible to see the easily identifiable shapes of six Omega class destroyers, slowly making their way through hyperspace. They were heading in the same direction as the Enlightener, straight towards the Proxima beacon. None seemed to have noticed the huge warship trailing them yet, a fact that Kiel wanted to ensure would remain true for as long as possible.

Kiel turned around to face Anderson. "If we take them now with our fighters then we will have six less destroyers to deal with later. Order three waves of fighters to be launched, that should be enough to take care of six destroyers."

"It is too late Sir," Anderson said, pointing towards the screen where it was now possible to see the brilliant flare of a jump point forming just in front of the Earthforce destroyers. "It looks like they are making the jump to the Proxima system.

"Cancel that order then," Kiel said, not appearing at all concerned that his prey was escaping. "We can take them later, we will just have to use more fighters."

"Yes Sir," Anderson replied, realising that Kiel was correct. The sheer number of fighters the Enlightener could carry was what would win the day against the Earthforce vessels. Even if the Rasputin arrived in time, that would still total only ten destroyers, and, at the most, three or four hundred fighters. The Enlightener carried nearly ten thousand drone fighters layered along the outer hull and, with their advanced software, they would work together a lot better than the Earthforce fighters could.

Certainly, Earthforce would put up a good fight, but it would only be a short and brief battle. Anderson turned around to leave when he noticed something else suddenly appear on the screen. "What is that," he asked Kiel, pointing out the five tiny shapes winging their way towards the Enlightener. "They look like fighters of some kind. It is a bit difficult to tell from this distance though."

Kiel stared at them for a second before a smile spread across his face. "Ah, it seem our allies have decided to join us. That will make this even easier."

Anderson could not help but agree, as he too recognised the vessels. He had seen the way the alien fighters had destroyed the Earthforce scout ship back at Arisia 3. They had been swift and powerful, and with them on Kiel's side, he realised that the chances of victory, already impossibly good, had just become a lot better. His earlier concerns about the Rasputin were swept away as he watched the graceful alien fighters pull alongside the warship.

* * *

For the second time in less than an hour the Proxima III jumpgate flared as a ship arrived. This time though, it wasn't a single destroyer, but an entire fleet, something that immediately raised the hopes of those defending the planet no end. The lead ship, the EAS Typhoeus, sent a signal to the other vessels in orbit around Proxima. Vice-Admiral Emmerton, one of the best commanders in Earthforce had arrived.

On the Rasputin, Susan felt a faint twinge of relief as the six Omega class destroyers arrived. She had been worried that she wouldn't see them in time. No one knew how far away Anderson's warship was, and if it had arrived before Emmerton, she knew she would likely have had a bigger fight on her hands than she could have handled. Now that problem was gone and the six destroyers, along with their fighter squadrons, would be added to the fleet. It was still not a big fleet, but a lot bigger now than it had been just moments ago.

"Captain I have Vice-Admiral Emmerton on the link for you," Lieutenant Heneker called. "She is asking to speak with you as soon as possible."

"Put her through then Lieutenant," Susan said, while at the same time signalling to Commander Petrov to come to the command station. Her executive officer was busy examining the latest reports from the various section commanders with one of the bridge crew, but seeing her signal quickly hurried up the stairs and over to her side.

"Captain Ivanova?" the raspy voice of Vice-Admiral Emmerton asked as soon as the link was established.

"Yes Admiral," Susan said, quickly saluting the senior officer.

"Good," Emmerton replied. "I wanted to speak to you about tactics for the defence of this planet. Admiral Mellor informed me you were to be my second. I must admit it came a something of a surprise to me."

Susan nodded, agreeing with the small dark-haired woman on the screen. It had been something of a shock to her as well, that Mellor would put so much faith in her so soon. In fact, the way she had been treated by Earthforce ever since her return from Babylon 5 had been nothing short of amazing. For some reason they seemed to want to forget all about what had happened during the civil war, and although a lot of that could be explained by the series of specials ISN had been running, Susan still thought she had been treated a lot better than she probably deserved.

Emmerton didn't pause long for a reply though, continuing straight on. "However, I will make do with what I have, so I would like to take command of your vessel for the duration of this battle. It is, after all, designed as a fleet command vessel and is better equipped for what I have in mind."

"Yes, Admiral," Susan replied calmly, although inside she was seething with uncertainly. She didn't want to give up command of her destroyer now, especially after she had spent so long getting used to it. However, Vice-Admiral Emmerton was her superior so there was little she could do about it. As far as she was concerned, the Admiral was making a mistake; this was not the time to be changing to an unfamiliar and untested vessel. However, Emmerton was well known for being stubborn and obstinate when it came to her decisions so there was little chance that anything Susan said would change her mind.

"I will have a shuttle prepared to bring me over at once, Captain," Emmerton continued. "I want all your senior officers ready to meet with at soon as I arrive."

Susan nodded and looked over at Commander Petrov who indicated, with a quick hand signal, that he would take care of that. She was just about to tell the Admiral everything would be ready when one of the bridge crew suddenly called out. "Jump point forming Captain."

She looked up at once and immediately noticed the huge blue rift in space that had appeared just behind the jumpgate. The fact that the incoming vessel wasn't using the gate was immediately suspicious and Susan turned back to inform Emmerton. The Admiral had already been informed of the incoming vessel by her own crew. In fact, the other destroyer's bridge suddenly appeared to be quite active indeed, and Emmerton herself looked very concerned with what she was hearing.

Susan back to where she had seen the Hyperspace vortex forming and was just in time to see a flash at the back of the rift and then the massive dark shape of the enemy warship slide into real space. She watched in shock, realising that it was considerably bigger than even Kozlowski's most pessimistic predictions had indicated. She couldn't tell for sure from here, but it looked like it could be nearly ten kilometres long. She suddenly felt the optimism that had risen with Emmerton's timely arrival beginning to slip away.

"Captain Ivanova," Emmerton's voice called, drawing Susan's attention back to her console. "I am afraid it looks like I will have to remain here after all. I want you to bring the Rasputin around behind the Typhoeus and onto my flank. I will give you more orders as soon as I've spoken to the other captains, Emmerton out."

As the screen went black, Susan nodded in agreement, recognising the wisdom in the Admiral's orders. She looked up again, noticing that the enemy warship was already moving slowly towards Proxima. It was unlike anything she had even seen before, with a long cylindrical front section and a huge command section at the rear. The dark opening in the front of the ship reminded her of its terrible power and she turned around to face Petrov. There were orders to give.

* * *

Anderson stepped back from the view screen, which was currently showing the ten Earthforce destroyers manoeuvring to intercept the Enlightener. The silvery hull of the Rasputin made it stand out plainly in the middle of the fleet, the light from Proxima's sun reflecting off its hull. To Anderson and the rest of the Enlightener's bridge crew the Earthforce ships looked a little like cumbersome whales, slowly turning to face their foes.

"How long until we are within range of the planet," Kiel asked, a gleam beginning to appear in his eye at the thought of the battle that was about to begin.

"At least another fifteen minutes, Sir," came the reply from the helmsman.

"Good," Kiel replied. "That will give us time to take care of the Earthforce destroyers first." He turned to face the crewman in charge of the mass driver. "Ready the weapon for firing," he said. "Make your first target Reagan Dome."

"Yes Sir," was the reply. "Reagan Dome targeted. Time to firing range at current speed and heading is sixteen point three minutes, Sir."

Kiel nodded in pleasure, leaning back in his chair to enjoy the view. In just over sixteen minutes the capital of Proxima would be little more than dust, and then, a few minutes after that, the second city would also fall. The initial impacts would probably kill around eight hundred thousand people, and then, as the blast radius from the asteroid impacts spread outwards, it would wipe away the mines and smaller settlements, possible killing another half a million. Certainly some would survive in the remote settlements, but the number of dead around the major cities would be enough to show Earthforce just how serious he was.

"Enemy destroyer fleet forming up for an attack, Sir," another of the crewmen called out, bringing his attention back to the Earthforce vessels that had been assembled to stop him.

Kiel eyed the destroyers for a second, as if trying to judge their strategy. He quickly recognised the work of Vice-Admiral Emmerton. She may be a very experienced commander, but she had a habit of repeating strategies that had been successful in the past. Kiel turned to the crewman who had just spoken. "Activate defence systems and prepare fighters for launch."

"Yes Sir," the gunnery officer replied, activating the energy weapons that had been mounted along the entire length of the Enlightener's ten kilometre long hull. "Defence grid activated, Sir," he said, when all the weapons showed up as active. All along the hull, plasma cannons and interceptors were coming on line, all ready to fire on anything that came with range.

"Good," Kiel replied. "Launch fighters then."

The crewman nodded and activated the fighter defence system. In their slots along the hull ten thousand drone fighters suddenly came to life, their engines and weapons powering up. They were all linked into the central computer on the bridge. So, when the order was given they launched in waves, quickly forming up around the Enlightener, waiting for further commands.

Kiel looked on in pleasure as a cloud of fighters erupted from the surface of the hull. It was a very impressive sight, and one he knew he would never tire of looking at. All of those fighters were linked to a single computer and they could all be controlled as one unit, instead of relying on each individual pilot to perform the required task. They might not be as good as the Starfuries one on one, but as they outnumbered the Earthforce fighters by as much as a thirty to one, that was not going to be a problem.

"Have half of the fighters form up as a defensive shield," Kiel ordered. "The rest are to attack the Earthforce vessels." He paused and looked at the destroyers again, noticing which vessel had taken the lead. "Target the lead ship first. That is probably the fleet commander's ship. Take that out and we will throw the rest into confusion. Then we will be free to pick them off one by one like grapes." He paused and wondered if that was quite the right analogy, then shrugged. He didn't have to worry about things like that now, not when he would be an emperor in less that a week.

The gunnery officer quick hurried to carry out his commands, while Kiel returned to watching the enemy vessels. The Earthforce destroyers were launching their own fighters now, probably in response to his actions. Their numbers look pitifully small though, compared to the huge force gathered around his warship. The fight might take a little longer than he might have originally intended, but it wouldn't be long. In less than fifteen minutes, he would be within range of Proxima and once the two major cities were destroyed, then Earth would know just how serious he was.

He noticed movement above his fighters. That movement quickly turned into the sleek shapes of the five alien fighters as they tore down towards the lead Earthforce vessel. The battle was about to begin, and as he watched, Kiel knew there could only be one possible outcome. The Earthforce fleet would try hard, but in the end, they would die and he would be free to destroy the planet they protected at his leisure. Perhaps he would even make them beg a little, although not for too long. He did have a schedule to keep, after all.

* * *

The flight deck of the Rasputin was a scene of pure chaos, or at least that was the way it appeared to the untrained eye. To Lieutenant-Commander Schmitt's eye everything was running smoothly as he attempted to get all of his fighters launched as quickly as possible. The sudden appearance of the enemy warship had almost caught them off guard, but fortunately, he had been prepared for just such an occurrence and had been in the process of briefing his fighter pilots when the scramble order had come.

Already three squadrons had launched, including the Starfury squadron his daughter was flying in and all that was left to launch was the new Lightning fighters, which he had decided to lead personally. Alister fingered the clasps of his flight suit to make sure everything was completely airtight. Like all pilots, the thing he feared most of all was a tear in his flight suit. Any tear or puncture would lead to almost certain death if there were a sudden depressurisation of the cockpit. The suit was clean though, and it was as secure as it was going to be.

He swung his leg over into the pilot's section of the lightning's cockpit while behind him his gunner, Mack Sagali, took up position in his own cockpit. The Lightings, like some of the Thunderbolts, were two seater craft and with the extra weaponry, a gunner was now an essential part of the fighter crew. He pulled the thick straps down over his shoulders and clicked them into place, now securely locked into the fighter. He actually hadn't originally intended on flying in this battle, but after one of the regular pilots had come down sick last night, he had jumped at the chance. Alister knew that every fighter was important, and as he had said to a commander of his a long time ago, commanding from the battle itself was the best way to see what was going on.

Below on the flight deck, one of the flight crew gave him the thumbs up signal, indicating that all the Lightning's weapons had been loaded onto their pylons. He glanced back quickly to check for himself, and saw that all eight missiles were in their correct places on his fighter's stubby wings. The screen in front of him was also showing the guided bombs loaded. They would be little use against enemy fighters, but his flight crew had obviously thought they might still be useful. The rest of the fighter's systems also checked out and all the indicators were green, so now all he had to do was wait.

Below him the fighter rested on a mobile, self-powered trolley that carried the fighter from the launch bay to the flight deck and vice versa. Right now, it was moving him quickly into the main airlock so he brushed back his dark hair and slipped on his helmet on over his head. A quick twist and it was in place, and he was ready to go. He pressed a control and the canopy above him slowly lowered itself into place, while ahead, the huge airlock doors opened to admit his fighter, along with another five from the same squadron. One the other side of the ship the second airlock was being loaded with another six fighters, making up the full twelve fighters of Delta Squadron.

The inner doors closed behind the six fighters and, after a brief wait for the air to be cycled out of the airlock, the outer doors opened, allowing the fighters to make the short flight down the launch bay and out into space. Alister didn't even wait for the airlock doors to open fully before pushing the fighter's thrust to maximum and thundering out of the launch bay and into the airless void of space. Close behind, the other five fighters formed up on his wing, quickly followed by the rest of Delta Squadron and they flew off to assume their positions in the gathering fleet, ready to give their lives to protect the people of Proxima.

* * *

The helmsman on the Rasputin was the first to notice the incoming Drakh fighters, as they showed up on his flight screens at virtually the same time as they appeared on the battle sensors. "Incoming fighters," he called out, attracting the attention of his Captain and the rest of the bridge crew.

Susan looked around at the helmsman's call. She had been busy speaking to Vice-Admiral Emmerton, who was explaining her plans for the coming battle. Seeing the incoming fighters heading straight towards the Typhoeus, she knew it was too late now for more talk. "Fighters coming your way, Admiral," she said urgently, after noticing that Emmerton's ship was their target.

The fleet commander quickly signed off, the discussion of battle tactics a lot less important than the actually fight itself. As Susan and the rest of the Rasputin's bridge crew watched as the Typhoeus manoeuvred around to fire on the incoming fighters. Several brilliant beams of red energy lanced out from the destroyer's guns, but the Drakh fighters easily avoided them, appearing to move out of the way before the destroyer's could even lock on and fire. To Susan and the rest of the Rasputin's bridge crew, it appeared that the Typhoeus was firing at empty space.

Then the fighters began to return fire, their own powerful beam weapons slicing straight through the thick hull of the Earthforce vessel with almost no effort at all. Large shards of metal fell away from the Typhoeus, followed quickly by a series of explosions deep within the vessel as fuel lines ruptured and oxygen ignited. Susan knew already that Emmerton's destroyer was lost, after only a few, brief seconds of combat. "Move us out of the way," she ordered the helmsman, as the burning destroyer began to tumble in space, its propulsion system no longer functioning.

Shocked as he was by the damage caused to the Typhoeus, the Rasputin's helmsman quickly followed her orders and moved the Rasputin out of the way of the disabled destroyer, avoiding any collision. On the console in front of Susan the screen flickered back to life as Emmerton sent a message to Susan. "Looks like you are in command now Captain," Emmerton said, a thin trail of blood dripping down her forehead, the souvenir of a collision with a computer console. "I am ordering an evacuation of the Typhoeus, hopefully most of us will survive. Give them hell, Captain."

Then the screen went blank and another explosion rocked the Typhoeus, this time in the rotating command module. The rotation stopped and flames began to leap from the centre of the ship, right were the bridge had been. Susan said a silent prayer for those on board, and hoped they would make to the life pods in time. She didn't have time to worry about them now though, as the enemy had now turned their attention towards her vessel.

When the Typhoeus had been hit and the Rasputin had been forced to move out of its way, her vessel had separated from the rest of the fleet. Now the Drakh fighters were swinging around again, and this time her ship was the target. She could see the pulses of energy streaking away from several Starfuries as they tried to hit the fighters, but the Drakh vessels were just too quick. She tapped the button on her console that would connect her with the gunnery commander.

"Lt. Commander Dreyer," she said. "Concentrate all fire on those Drakh fighters. If we don't take them out soon there isn't going to be much of a fleet left to take on the rest of the enemy vessels."

"On to it, Captain," the voice of the gunnery commander said, and Susan could almost feel the excitement Dreyer felt, so strongly was it evident in his voice. At least one person on board was enjoying himself, although Susan wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing.

Before Dreyer had even finished speaking, the heavy plasma cannons mounted along the spine of the Rasputin opened fire on the incoming fighters, forcing them away from the warship's engines. The fighters flew higher instead, directing their attacks at the central section of the warship, just aft of the habitation section, obviously aiming for engineering. It was not as crippling an attack as striking at the engines, but their attack was still a significant danger to the vessel and her crew. However, once again their attack was thwarted, as several of the Rasputin's fighters intercepted the incoming Drakh vessels and forced them away from the rear of the warship.

The Drakh were not finished with the Rasputin yet however. Carefully avoiding the fire being directed at them by the various weapons systems and the Starfuries, they spun around and proceeded to blast the front of the warship, just aft of the flight deck. The beams of energy tore into the Rasputin's hull and chunks of hull plating were sent flying off into space, forcing several Starfuries that were about to engage the Drakh vessels to make sudden turns or be destroyed. Beneath, where the outer hull had once been the glistening black shadow bio-armour had been exposed, a stark reminder of the origin of much of the Rasputin's technology.

"Damage report," Susan called out, although it was obvious to her that there must have been major damage. In fact, Susan could already imagine the deaths of the flight crews where the hull had been breached. She did wonder though why she hadn't felt the blasts up on the bridge. She had only felt the faintest vibration as the outer hull was breached, nothing like what she had experienced on previous vessels she had served on.

"Systems report negligible damage Captain," came the reply from behind her, down in the second sunken pit, where systems relating to tactical and damage control were situated. "Outer hull has taken some damage, but inner hull successfully absorbed all weapons damage."

"What!" Susan exclaimed, spinning around on her chair to face the crewman who had spoken.

He looked a little nervous at the sudden scrutiny of his work, but repeated his findings. "The system reports no major damage Captain," he said. "Although, there has been a slight rise in ship's energy reserves for some reason."

Susan stared at him for a few seconds before understanding suddenly washed over her and she almost began to laugh. "Of course," she murmured, turning back to face the front of the ship, while at the same time trying to contain her amusement. The Shadows had obviously not been very secure about the loyalty of their allies and had built their ships to be invulnerable to any Drakh attacks. That meant, because the Rasputin was made of similar organic hull material as the Shadow vessels, the Rasputin could not be harmed by their attacks either, at least not its inner hull.

A brilliant flash lit up space in front of her as one of the attacking fighters was finally caught by the horde of pursuing Starfuries and destroyed. The four remaining Drakh vessels dropped close to the Rasputin's hull and tried to avoid the incoming fire of the Earthforce fighters, recognising that they would not be fired on so close to another Earthforce ship. They flew down the side of the Rasputin, heading back towards the engines, their pilots obviously realising that if they took out warship's engines it would be left helpless. However, that bought them straight into the sights of Alister Schmitt and the rest of Delta squadron who were flying along underneath the Rasputin at the time the Drakh made their manoeuvre.

Two more Drakh fighters exploded before the last two turned and fled, heading back towards the still distant shape of the Enlightener. Realising that they obviously had no more stomach for a fight, Susan let them go, not wanting to risk her fighters on pursuing a retreating foe when so many more enemies still remained. The first battle over, she looked around to see what damage had been done.

The Typhoeus was hanging dormant in space, the fires now extinguished by the lack of oxygen. It seemed that some, but by no means all of the life pods had been launched and were now heading back towards Proxima III, a temporary sanctuary at best. Susan could only hope that Emmerton had managed to escape alive, but given the damage she had seen dealt to the Typhoeus', Susan didn't hold out much hope for anyone who had been on the command deck of the ship.

The rest of the fleet was still milling around as if wondering what to do now that their fleet commander was gone. Susan realised that if someone didn't take command now, then the fleet was going to be in a lot of trouble. The huge enemy vessel was already closing on their position, and the sight of the cloud of fighters speeding towards them only pushed home the point.

Susan looked over at Lieutenant Heneker. "Open a channel to the fleet, Lieutenant," she said. "And make it quick."

The communications officer followed out her orders as fast as she could, nodding to Susan when it was complete. Susan pressed the button on her console that would complete the link. "Ivanova to fleet," she said, a firm, commanding edge coming into her voice. "All fighters are to target incoming enemy fighters. Destroyers are to form up behind the Rasputin for an attack on their capital ship."

She paused, aware that she should probably say something to try to incite a little bravery in the Earthforce personal. "Remember we have a planet to save here, and worrying about what happened to the Typhoeus won't help anyone. Nearly two million people on the planet below are looking up at us right now, willing you on. So, let's not let them down."

With that final comment, she cut the link and ordered the Rasputin to take the lead, leaving the wreck of the Typhoeus tumbling in space behind the fleet. The other destroyers, along with the hundreds of Starfuries, quickly formed up behind her, heading towards the enemy vessels. She knew it was probably an impossible battle, especially given the results of the fight so far, but she needed to try to do something. Susan didn't want to die, but if she didn't risk her life here today, then many others would meet their maker when Anderson's vessel came into firing range of Proxima.

* * *

A ripple of explosions tore down the side of the old Hyperion class destroyer, the EAS Grenadier, as it finally lost its battle with the horde of enemy fighters that had pounced on it. The hundreds of tiny fighters that had been peppering the old warship with plasma fire turned away as it began its death throes, and began to concentrate their attention on the next destroyer. For the moment they ignored the Starfuries that were trying to attack them, leaving them to engaged by yet more of the Enlightener's fighters that swept in across the burning hull of the Grenadier.

Two wide beams of purple energy suddenly cut through the ranks of approaching fighters like a scythe, as the Rasputin's main gun opened up on the enemy vessels. The Rasputin had been cutting its way through the enemy ranks in a futile attempt to reach the side of the older destroyer, but in the end, it had all been too late. Another blinding explosion lit up space as the fusion reactors aboard the destroyed Earthforce ship went critical, showering every vessel within range with burning chunks of metal and plastic.

As she turned away from the sight, Susan took some small satisfaction in the fact that the destruction of the old destroyer had at least managed to take out a small group of about thirty enemy fighters that were closing on her vessel from that side. The holographic display that covered the entire ceiling gave her a perfect view of the entire battle. Unfortunately, it was not a view that she particularly wanted to see.

The vastly superior numbers of enemy fighters were cutting a swath though the Earthforce defenders. Even as Susan watched, several more Starfuries vanished into tiny particles of dust, while another enemy fighter scored a hit on one of the destroyers. The fleet was dying and they hadn't even come close to scratching the main enemy warship, which continued its relentless progress towards Proxima. Even the Rasputin hadn't come through the fighting unscathed, as one of the enemy fighters had smashed into the hull somewhere just below the bridge. Susan couldn't tell how much damage had been done, and didn't have time for a full damage report, but she could see a gas of some kind leaking into space, an indication that the hull had been breached.

"Report," Susan demanded as Petrov approached from his latest discussion with one of the tactical officers. Her executive officer was nursing his arm, which he had injured when the Rasputin had been struck, but Susan didn't have time to be civil right now.

"The Hesperia has taken critical damage and is withdrawing from battle," he pointed out the burning destroyer off in the distance. "Its captain isn't sure if they will survive or not, but is trying to make it back to Proxima. Their weapons and defence systems are all down, so they are not much use to us now. Two other destroyers have also taken severe damage, but for the moment they are still fighting."

Susan ducked as a flight of Starfuries flew directly overhead. The holographic screen made it seem as though they were almost on top of her, although of course they had passed some distance above the hull of her ship. One of the fighters exploded as another wave of enemy fighters appeared and then a faint vibration ran through the deck as the Rasputin's interceptors opened up, stopping several incoming bolts of plasma from reaching the hull. Another beam of energy cut out from somewhere at the front of the warship and two more enemy fighters exploded into balls of flame.

"We're losing aren't we, Captain," Petrov said, a little despondently. He wasn't one to normally give up hope so easily, but even to him it was obvious that the Earthforce ships were going to be destroyed, probably without even scratching the enemy warship.

"Not yet, Commander," she replied fiercely. "I am not willing to give up so easily. The modifications Earthforce ordered made to all the targeting systems appear to be working at least. Those fighters no longer have any stealth ability and that means our interceptors are working and our fighters can use their targeting systems again. We aren't dead yet."

However, despite her attitude she was beginning to come to the same conclusion as the Commander. The battle was not going well and although they had probably managed to destroy maybe two hundred or more enemy fighters the Earthforce loses had been considerably higher. Two destroyers were gone, and a third was now in full retreat as it tired to escape the fighters that were blasting through its defences. In fact, out of entire fleet, only the Rasputin was still operating at full capacity, its weapons continually firing on any fighter came within range, and its organic hull absorbing the worst of their attacks.

To make matters worse, the main enemy vessel was sailing neatly down the centre of the battle, and any ship that came anywhere within range was destroyed by its weapons or its fighter screen. Susan didn't know how close it had to be before it could fire on the planet, but she knew that time was rapidly slipping away. Fleetingly, she thought about throwing the Rasputin in front of it, but knew that would only stop one shot from the mass driver, assuming the asteroid fired by the mass driver didn't just smash straight through her vessel without slowing down.

Then a sudden, horribly devious plan leapt into her mind. It was incredibly risky and would probably end in complete failure, but if it succeed she would have disabled the enemy vessel and possibly even won the battle. However, knowing her luck, she would probably end up just a bloody smear in space, along with her ship and the rest of her crew. At times like this though, she needed something work with and this was the only possibility she could think of.

Susan spun around again and tapped the control that would allow her to speak to the fleet. "Ivanova to fleet," she said, although she wasn't sure exactly how many vessels out there were still listening. "Concentrate all fire on the forward weapons on the enemy capital ship. I need them taken out as quickly as possible. Do anything you can, but those guns have to be taken out."

* * *

Delta squadron had lost two of its members by the time Susan's call reached the ears of Alister Schmitt. He had given up trying to control this battle, instead just concentrating on staying alive, as were the rest of his pilots. His daughter and the rest of Alpha squadron had vanished off his display soon after the battle was joined and he hadn't heard anything from them since. In his heart, he hoped she was still alive, but his mind was not so sure.

He could see that the battle wasn't going well at all. The three burning destroyers stood out plainly, even among the bright flashes of energy weapons, and all around wreckage was beginning to make flying even more dangerous than it already was. Twisting his way around the last remnants of the destroyed Hyperion-class destroyer, he looked out towards the huge enemy vessel that was slowly making its way through the carnage.

Few Earthforce vessels had even come close to the enemy's main vessel so far and those that had, he hadn't seen again. Still, Captain Ivanova must have a good reason for ordering the enemy ship's forward weapons destroyed. He couldn't imagine exactly what that reason might be, but he knew that out here it wasn't his job to understand the whole strategy of battle. Of course, that was assuming there was a strategy behind her orders. With a quick message to the rest of his fighters, the flight commander turned his Lightning towards the enemy vessel and flew straight into hell.

It seemed like a hundred enemy fighters leapt at him at once and only by throwing himself into a sudden change of direction, followed by a long rolling and twisting manoeuvre was he able to avoid their fire. The rest of delta squadron were not so lucky and two of his men were vaporised almost immediately, another one shortly after. The remaining seven pilots opened up with their own weapons, forcing the enemy fighters to scatter. Behind the flight commander, in the fighter's second seat, his gunner began to fire, peppering any vessel that came within range with cannon fire.

The next minute was unlike anything he had even been through before. There seemed to be an unlimited number of the enemy's drone fighters, while his squadron appeared to have vanished and Alister was not even sure if they were alive or dead. For a few seconds he was joined by two unfamiliar Thunderbolt Starfuries before both of them were destroyed. He didn't even have time to discover which destroyer they called home. He wasn't sure if he hit any of the enemy fighters or not, he just fired every time one came close to his sights and prayer that he hit something.

Finally, he was free of attackers and a vast wall of metal filled his sights. Pulling up quickly, he flew along the hull of the enemy warship, his gunner taking shots at any weapons emplacement that came into view. Fortunately, the enemy fighters were no longer firing at him, although if that was because they had lost sight of him, or because they were programmed not to fire on their own ship, he didn't know.

An explosion rocked the fighter, and one of the consoles in front of him went dead with a shower of sparks. It was his scanner, which meant that he was now flying blind. Alister reached down and switched off power to the console, stopping the sparks that were beginning to fall onto his flight suit. He quickly wiped the glowing hot pieces of metal off his leg with this thick glove. Fortunately, none of the sparks seemed to have cut through the suit material, and he didn't have to worry about decompression just yet.

He opened the channel to the gunner. "Do you know where we are, Macki," he asked. There was no reply and glancing behind him, Alister saw his gunner slumped over his console. Alister swore loudly, and quickly switched the weapons systems over to his cockpit, realising that now he had to fly and fight at the same time. Still, as long as someone didn't get on his tail, he might survive. The readings on the screen that rested up against his right leg told him that Mack was still alive at least, and with any luck he would remain that way. Too many people had already died today, and he didn't want to lose another.

An enemy fighter swam into his view and with a savage jab at the fire controls Alister blew it apart, then forced his fighter closer to the warship's hull to avoid the shower of wreckage from the enemy he had just destroyed. A surge of exhilaration rushed through him as he realised that he was alone against thousands of enemies. This was the kind of battle Alister had always dreamed about fighting ever since he had first strapped himself into the seat of a Starfury, although, in his dreams, he usually won, and even if he lost, it was only a dream, he could always wake up again.

Suddenly the hull of the warship dropped away and Alister realised he had reached the front of the enemy vessel, and the six heavy plasma cannons Captain Ivanova had ordered destroyed. He quickly spun his fighter around one hundred and eighty degrees, looking for the target. He spotted the first enemy gun turret the moment it fired on him. Tugging on the fighter's controls, he somehow managed to avoid the blast of energy that had been hurled his direction and wasted no time targeting the gun and pressing the firing control for his missiles.

Two bright flares erupted from the fighter's wings, followed by streaks of flame as two missiles launched themselves at the enemy vessel. One struck an enemy fighter that suddenly threw itself in front of his missile, causing a massive explosion that rocked Alister's fighter. The second missile flew truly though, and struck the plasma cannon just where the weapon emplacement joined the hull of the warship. Another explosion shook the fighter, but the missile had done the job.

The cannon parted company with the enemy vessel, and went spinning off into space. As Alister flew past, another explosion tore through the enemy vessel as the fuel lines that had led to the weapon, burst into flame. A sudden white cloud erupted as extinguishers came on, quashing the flames almost instantly. They prevented the flames from spreading, but a dark smear on the hull showed where the missile had struck.

The next minute was complete chaos for Alister as he manoeuvred his fighter around to fire on another three turrets within range. He was joined by two more Earthforce fighters who appeared out of nowhere, launched their missiles, and then shooting away from the enemy warship, several of the enemy's octagonal shaped drone fighters in pursuit. For the moment, Alister's fighter was left unmolested, so he intended to make the most of it. Turning towards the last plasma cannon he could see, he aimed his fighter straight towards it, almost on a collision course.

At the last moment, he pulled up and pressed the release control for the guided bombs mounted on the bottom of the fighter. Then he pushed the thrusters as much as possible and tore away from the enemy warship at top speed, while behind him an explosion destroyed the last cannon, and ate its way down into the hull below. As they had every other time, the extinguishers came on and the flames that had erupted quickly died out. However, they were not quick enough to prevent a large, jagged hole from being torn into the hull, a tiny victory against a vessel that had seemed almost invulnerable to their attacks.

* * *

Kiel frowned as a bright flash lit up the front of the Enlightener and on the view screen a message flashed up informing the bridge crew that another gun emplacement had been taken out. He wondered for a minute what exactly the Earthforce strategy was, they had lost nearly thirty Starfuries in that attack alone and all they had done was take out six plasma cannons, which would quickly be repaired once the Enlightener was safely back in hyperspace.

That aside, he was a little surprised at how well the enemy was doing. It appeared that Earthforce must have broken his fighter's stealth technology and altered their scanner frequencies. That wasn't a major problem, as he would just order that the new scanner frequencies to be jammed as well next time. Still, more fighters than he would have like had been destroyed so far.

"That makes just under two hundred and fifty we have lost so far," Anderson informed Kiel from his post near the tactical computer. "Make that two sixty," he said as several more fighter were destroyed by Earthforce vessels."

"They can not win," Kiel said confidently. "Most of their ships have been disabled or destroyed already and our fighter losses can easily be replaced."

"Three capital ships destroyed, and two disabled," Anderson filled in the details from the information that flowed across his screen.

"Good," Kiel replied, turning away from the view screen and wandering over to look at the mass driver console. "Hmm we are nearly within range," he muttered to himself before turning back to continue his conversation with Anderson. "As soon as we are within range, I want the mass driver to fire on Proxima. If there are any Earthforce vessels in the way, then they won't be for long."

Anderson looked up from his console and frowned. "What about the Q-40 core," he asked. "Won't an impact like that set it off? If we were still within range of any explosion like that, it could damage us."

Kiel shook his head. "We selected the asteroids with a high content of heavy metals to ensure they won't be destroyed or deflected by minor impacts, and they should be going fast enough to fly straight through even a destroyer, with little impact on either their speed or trajectory. Anyway, the area in front of the Enlightener is empty of enemy capital ships at the moment."

Anderson nodded, agreeing with Kiel's logic. He looked back at the view screen. The enemy fighters were now fleeing away from the Enlightener as fast as they could, their strange, almost suicidal, assault on the forward plasma weapons apparently now over. They had achieved little, as any attempt to attack that section again would just bring them into range of the fighters assigned to protect the warship.

The crewman in change of the mass driver called out, "Sirs we are within optimum firing range."

Kiel smiled the smile of someone who knew his victory was close at hand. "Good," he said. "Fire at will."

An almost imperceptible shudder ran through the command section of the warship as behind them one of the specially prepared asteroids was lowered gently into the mass driver. A slight vibration began to build beneath the deck plating as the gravity accelerator began to charge with energy. In only a few moments time the generator would reach its maximum charge and the asteroid would be accelerated down the barrel of the mass driver before being spat out the other end at incredible speed. Then it would plunge through the atmosphere and Reagan Dome, a city with a population of more than three hundred thousand, would cease to exist.

"Sir," Anderson suddenly cried out in warning, pointing toward the screen.

Kiel spun around and saw what his assistant was pointing out. One of the Earthforce destroyers had broken away from the enemy fleet and seemed to be on a collision course with the bow of the Enlightener. Suddenly the plan of the Earthforce commander made sense, as there were no weapons left on the bow to fire on the approaching destroyer, nothing could stop their attack, although he still couldn't see what damage they hoped to cause. Below the vibration began to build to a crescendo as the mass driver prepared to fire its deadly cargo, straight into the incoming vessel.

"Ivanova," Kiel almost shouted, at last recognising the silvery hull of the enemy vessel as it drew ever closer to the Enlightener's bow. The Rasputin's outer hull cracked and broken from attacks by his fighters, but it still looked like a deadly shark to Kiel as it swooped upwards towards the end of the mass driver. Releasing Ivanova must be planning to ram his beautiful warship, he spun around and shouted across the bridge, "Stop, don't fire." However, it was too late, the process was too far advanced and, even as Kiel leapt across the gap to jab at the cancel button, the gravity generator reached maximum charge and fired the asteroid, straight towards the Rasputin.

* * *

It had taken Susan some time, and a threat of pulling rank, before she had managed to convince Petrov to agree to her plan. In the end it had been the realisation that the battle was lost anyway that had led him to agree, rather than any persuasive argument on the Captain's part. Both commanding officers realised that even if Susan's plan failed they would still destroy much of the enemy ship as they smashed the Rasputin into the barrel of the mass driver, perhaps enough to put it out of action.

The deaths of those who had taken out the enemy's bow weapons weighed heavily on her mind, but Susan knew she hadn't had a choice. Behind her the Earth destroyers were dying, one by one. Three were now little more than burning wreckage and most of the rest were close to falling. There were just too many fighters for them to handle, and no matter how many they eliminated, another wave always seemed ready to take their place.

The Rasputin had pulled away from the battle and turned around in a wide arc so it could be aimed straight at the enemy vessel and then power had been shifted from unimportant tasks and put into the engines and the main gun. Then she had said a prayer and given the order that sent the Rasputin and her crew on their way. In less than a minute, either they would be dead, or the enemy vessel's deadly mass driver would be disabled for good.

She steeled her nerves and looked down the barrel of the weapon, right into the eye of death. Then it fired, a burst of light at the end of the tunnel, followed by a sudden dark mass heading straight towards her. In the fraction of a second she had to react, Susan wondered if she had been wrong and all her plans were just going to lead to the death of her crew. That asteroid would be travelling at thousands of kilometres an hour by the time it reached them. It would probably just go straight through the Rasputin and on to the planet beyond and all the Rasputin's sacrifice would be for naught.

To her surprise, not to mention the shock of everyone else on board, the plan worked. Just as the mass driver fired the Rasputin's particle cannons also fired, at full power. The twin cannons, adapted from the terrifying weapons of the Shadow warships and capable of cutting through almost any form of hull armour, sliced straight through the outer shell of the asteroid just as it reach the halfway point of its journey. The unstable Quantium-40 core of the asteroid, so devastating when used against a planet, ignited as soon as the stream of particles sliced into it. An explosion, brighter than anything anyone on the Rasputin's bridge could have imagined, lit up the darkness of space, a glorious eruption of flame and energy that immediately raised the hopes of all who saw it.

The entire front section of the Enlightener broke apart, huge chunks of metal breaking off and spiralling away into space. On the Rasputin's bridge, everyone was blinded by the explosion, so no one was able to see the huge metal beam that was heading straight towards them, a piece of wreckage bigger than the destroyer itself and on a direct collision course with the Rasputin.

* * *


	29. Chapter 29

* * *

Susan pulled herself back up into her chair, her vision still blurred from the blinding flash that had filled every screen on the bridge. The flash from the explosion had been followed soon afterwards by a jarring collision and everyone on the bridge, and she imagined across the whole ship, had been thrown clear of their seats and was now lying scattered across the floor. Still, they were alive, which meant they could still do their jobs. Now securely back on the command chair, Susan rubbed her eyes in an attempt to recover her lost vision. She hoped it was only temporary.

The faint hissing sound of the bridge doors opening drew Susan's attention away the temporary loss of vision, as the doors were supposed to remain closed at all times during battle in case of a hull breach across the hall. Glancing in that direction, with eyes that were only just beginning to see objects again, Susan saw two blurry shapes slowly making their way towards her, one black and the other sort of greenish.

She closed her eyes and blinked a couple of time, letting a few tears wash her eyes. That seemed to do the trick, and it seemed the after effects of the explosion were finally began to fade. Although Susan was still seeing spots in front of her eyes, she could make out the form of Sarah Chang walking towards her. The Psi-Cop looked a little worse for wear, with a red smear of blood across her forehead where she must have bumped her head against something hard. 'Couldn't happen to a nicer person,' Susan thought as she watched the telepath trying to make her way across the deck.

Walking slowly along behind Sarah and looking amused by the whole situation was Talia. The blonde telepath looked completely unfazed by what had just happened and the sight of her was enough for Susan to start straightening her hair. She had braided it tightly this morning but sometime during the battle, her hair had come loose and it was all over the place. After failing totally in her attempts to restore some order to her unruly hair, Susan left it as it was and turned her attention instead to the painful feeling in her bottom lip, which had begun to throb.

A gentle tap on the sore lip with her index finger left behind a sharp stinging feeling in her lip and spots of blood on her finger. She looked around for a mirror or something reflective so she could determine how bad the damage was. There weren't any mirrored surfaces on the bridge, except the dark glass of the computer consoles, and there wasn't enough light right now to see anything in them. It was at that moment that she realised that the holographic display that spanned the entire ceiling of the bridge was not functioning and the bridge was lit only by dim emergency lighting.

Ignoring the two telepaths, and the problems they probably bought with them, Susan looked around for a crewmember to help remedy the situation, or at least give her a report on the condition of her command. Spotting Lieutenant Heneker crawling out from under a console, one that was showering sparks all much the forward part of the bridge; she hurried down the stairs to assist. Seeing no one else that appeared capably of helping, she grabbed the extinguisher that was mounted beneath the console. Pointing in the general direction of the damaged console, she pulled the lever and sprayed the burning console with white, misty foam until the fire was gone. Then Susan helped the red headed lieutenant to her feet and over to her station.

"Captain," Chang began, supporting herself against the railing around the command station.

"Not now, Ms. Chang," Susan cut her off. "I have more important problems right now. Lend a hand, stand there and be quiet, or get off my bridge, those are your options."

"But..."

Susan turned on the telepath. "I said not now! If you continue to interrupt me, I will have security escort you off the bridge and into the brig." As if illustrate her point two green uniformed marines stepped through the partially open bridge doors. Susan didn't know where they had came from, or why they were on the bridge, but it seemed to do the trick, keeping the telepath quiet and letting her get on with her job.

Sarah didn't look happy, but nodded anyway, realising that, while Susan probably wouldn't carry out her threat, upsetting the captain would not get her what she wanted. Instead, she glanced around the bridge trying to work out what had happened. When she had gone to bed late last night, everything had been quiet and peaceful but now it looked like the Rasputin had been through a major battle. She wondered why she hadn't been informed and realised that if it hadn't been for the sudden bump that threw her against the wall of the hallway as she was coming from her quarters, she wouldn't have known anything was wrong at all.

Susan didn't have time to explain the events of the last half hour to the telepath. She had other concerns and right now, she needed to know what was going on. Working quickly with Lieutenant Heneker, she managed to bring the warship's communication console back online. Unfortunately, it was blaring all channels at once, and it was impossible to sort out anything from that, so she left the lieutenant to work on it and made her way back up to the command station.

"Now, do you mind telling what the hell is going on, Captain?" the Psi-Cop asked her and she took her seat.

Susan looked at her. "What do you mean?" she asked. "I would have thought it was fairly obvious. We just collided with something. And as all the systems seem to be down, it must have been something big."

"What? An asteroid or something like that?"

A flicker of a frown crossed Susan's face before she realised the telepath really didn't have a clue what was going on. "No, part of Mr. Anderson's warship. Hopefully the rest of it was destroyed, but I won't know for sure until we get sensors back on-line."

"Full communications have been restored, Captain," came the call from her communications officer.

"At last," Susan said, clenching her fist in triumph. She tapped her link to open a channel to the rest of the ship. "This is the Captain, we need maintenance and medical personal on the bridge and damage reports to the X/O at once. I repeat, send maintenance and medical personal to the bridge and damage reports to the executive officer."

The link was silent for a moment and then a voice replied. "Understood Captain, a team is on their way up."

"Make it quick," Susan said to the voice at the other end. In truth, she was just pleased that anyone had answered at all. The force of the collision had almost knocked her unconscious for a moment, and she hated to think what it had done to the rest of the ship. However, now they had communications operating throughout the ship she hoped that someone would be able to get the primary computer systems back online.

"Message from engineering, Captain," Lieutenant Heneker called out.

"Put it through," Susan replied.

The voice of the chief engineer, Philip Moore, filled the bridge; although with most of the screens still down there was no picture. "Engineering to Captain Ivanova, are you receiving?"

Susan pressed a button on the console in front of her. "Ivanova here."

When Moore's voice returned it had a note of relief echoing through it. He didn't make any mention of his feelings though, just reported on the situation. "We are on emergency power only at the moment," he said. "Main power should be back online in around two minutes and most of the systems should also return at that time."

"What happened Mr. Moore?"

"Energy wave from the explosion Captain," he replied. "We also collided with something, although I am not sure what without the damage control systems. The EMP was too strong, and it cut right through the shielding and flashed most of our systems. They are designed to withstand this sort of thing though, so they should return to normal operation in a few minutes."

"Good," Susan said. "Get back to it then. Report if you find out anything else."

"Um, Captain," Chang called out again, trying to catch Susan's attention.

Susan just frowned at her, before turning back to speak to Commander Petrov. He wasn't there though and she found herself looking around frantically to find out what had happened to her executive officer. Looking over the railing into the rear section of the bridge, she spotted him lying on the floor clutching his injured arm. He must have been thrown there when the collision occurred.

"Are you all right Commander," she asked, continuing to ignore the annoyed looking Psi-Cop standing next to her.

He blinked a couple of time and then looked up at her. "I think so, Captain," he said slowly. "My arm hurts, but apart from that I don't seem to be too injured."

"Wait there anyway," Susan told him. "There is a medical team on their way up here." As if in response to her words three crewmen clad in the bluish-grey of the medical staff arrived on the bridge. "Down there," she said to them, pointing down towards the rear section of the bridge. They had been about to come to her assistance, but there were others on the bridge that needed attention a lot more than she did. Then, seeing the Psi-cop still waiting, Susan tugged the jacket on her uniform straight and went over to see what it was that Chang wanted.

"Can I help you, Ms. Chang," she asked.

"Yes you can, Captain," the Psi-Cop said in a tone that was less than civil after being ignored by Susan for so long. "I am still waiting to learn what exactly is going on. When I went to bed we were still on route to Proxima, so you might imagine it came as a bit of a surprise when I suddenly found myself being thrown across the hallway as I was walking to the dining room."

"Didn't anyone tell you we had arrived at Proxima?" Susan asked, remembering that she had been too busy since arriving in the system to inform the two telepaths anything. She had, however, broadcast a ship-wide message before the battle had begun, ordering everyone to their battle stations. She had even repeated it three times, so if Chang hadn't heard it, then she must have been still sound asleep. "I guess you shouldn't sleep in so long then Ms. Chang. Now, if you will excuse me, I have a ship to run."

"No, I won't excuse you," Sarah said angrily. "You said Kiel's ship was out there and I want to know what is happening."

Susan looked at her sharply. "Kiel? Who is he? I said that Mr. Anderson's warship is out there, and if you want to know what is going on then I suggest you go over there." Susan pointed in the direction of the bridge doors. "And wait until main power comes back online. Until then, I know little more than you do. Unless there is something you haven't been telling me, Ms. Chang."

The telepath's eyes narrowed for a moment and seemed about to continue arguing, but finally she nodded and walked slowly over to the location that Susan had indicated. Talia didn't follow, instead leaned back against the railing, watching the bridge crew trying to restore some order to their systems.

"You too," Susan said when she noticed Talia still standing behind her. The blonde telepath didn't move, instead just stood there, smiling faintly and twirling the collar of her jacket around one finger. Susan sighed in annoyance and turned back to her work. Of course, there wasn't actually a lot of work for her to right now with all the bridge systems, except for communications, still inoperative.

While she sat there waiting for engineering to restore power, Susan found herself growing increasingly self-conscious of Talia's scrutiny. She realised that was probably what the personality inhabiting Talia's mind wanted. For some reason the artificial personality seemed to like nothing more than manipulating other people, just for her own perverted amusement. The real Talia was the complete opposite, at least what Susan remembered of her.

Then, just as she was about to tell Talia to leave again, the voice of Philip Moore returned. "Main power coming online now, Captain."

There was a flash and all the lights went dead. For a moment, Susan thought something had gone wrong, but then the lights returned, along with the holographic screen and all of the other ship systems. Well, not quite all, as the long-range sensors were still down, the console that controlled those systems was the one that had been burning earlier. The bridge crew let out a short cheer to celebrate the good work of the Rasputin's engineers, a cheer that died quickly when they saw the devastation that was all around them.

All manner of debris, from tiny flakes of metal to giant, kilometre long pylons, spun slowly in space around them. Somehow, the Rasputin was untouched by all but the smallest particles of the debris cloud. Of the enemy vessel there was no sign, but then none of the other Earthforce vessels could be seen either. There did not seem to be any fighting still going on, at least not that Susan could see.

Noticing that some of the larger chunks of debris were coming closer, Susan looked down at the helmsman and called out, "Ensign Marino, can you move us clear please." There was no response, so Susan tried again, this time louder. When the helmsman didn't respond again she looked at Lieutenant Heneker. "See if he is all right can you, Lieutenant," she asked the communications officer.

"Yes Captain," Heneker replied leaping out of her seat and shaking the helmsman by the shoulder.

This time he responded and after opening his eyes, he looked over at her. "Are you here as well, Teri?" he asked. When she pointed back behind him, he looked back and saw Captain Ivanova staring at him. "Sorry Captain, he replied. "I thought I was dead there for a moment."

"Well you will be if you don't move us away from this debris, Ensign."

"Working on it right now, Captain," Marino replied, unclenching his hands from around the armrests on his chair and getting to work at the controls. He had been the only one of the bridge crew to see what had happened after the explosion. When the main gun had fired, his eyes had been on his controls and so he avoided most of the flash. Then, when he had looked up, all he saw was a massive metal pylon, nearly as big as the Rasputin itself, coming straight for him. He quickly pressed whatever controls he had within reach and held on as tightly as he could as the Rasputin had moved up, and away from the incoming object.

Although he didn't know it now, he had been solely responsible for saving all one thousand, three hundred and sixty two lives on board, with the exception of one of the maintenance staff who had cracked his skull open on a packing crate in the shuttle bay. Right now though, all he was concerned about was the laughter ringing in his ears as the bridge crew let out their amusement at his comment about being dead.

Even Susan smiled slightly, but she grew serious again as the warship's powerful engines came online and it headed away from the wreckage of the enemy vessel. It was good that the crew had something to laugh at, even if it was only the laughter of those happy to have survived. Somehow, her plan had worked, the enemy vessel was gone and Proxima was safe. Most amazing of all, the Rasputin had survived. She looked heavenward for a moment and muttered a quick prayer of thanks to whoever was listening.

"Captain," Commander Petrov's voice called out, cutting into her moment of reflection. "I think you should see this."

She turned around to look at the Commander. "What is it n... oh hell."

While the view in front of the Rasputin was of nothing but debris, behind it was another matter all together. Somehow, they had managed to make it past the command section of the enemy ship, which like the Rasputin was still intact. Behind them, about ten kilometres astern, was the vast bulk of the enemy vessel, and its escorting cloud of fighters. There was no sign of the Earthforce destroyers.

"Damn, it survived," she said, slamming her fist down on the hard armrest of her chair, then shaking it in pain and realising that smashing your hand into solid wood isn't a good idea. "Is it still operational," she asked the Commander.

Petrov turned to the crewman standing next to him, who shook his head. "Not at the moment, Captain," the crewman said. "In fact, none of the enemy fighters appears to be moving either."

Susan wondered if that meant that they had been destroyed in the explosion, or if they, like the Rasputin, had just been temporarily disabled. The answer to her question came soon after when lights began to shine along the hull of the enemy vessel and, with a burst of its thrusters, it began to move slowly away from the Rasputin, continuing its journey towards Proxima. Then all the drifting fighters powered up and began to cluster around the wounded vessel, obviously in a defensive posture.

"Damn," she said again. She was about to order the Rasputin to come about when she felt a strange tingle in her mind. It was if a distant tune was being played, and somehow she knew what it was. Susan turned around towards the bridge doors, watching as Sarah Chang walked slowly towards the command station, although she wasn't looking were she was going, instead focusing intently on the enemy vessel. Susan knew exactly what the Psi-Cop was doing. Sarah was reaching out with her powerful mind, looking for signs of other telepaths on the enemy ship.

* * *

"Sit still please, Sir," Anderson said to Kiel as he tried to tie the bandage around his superior's injured head. Kiel had thrown himself at the controls in an attempt to stop the mass driver firing and had only ended up with a gash on his skull for the trouble. "There, it is done," Anderson muttered as he went back to patching up his own wounds.

"Fighters have formed up into in defensive positions, Commander," one of the bridge crew called out. "Any new orders, Sir?"

"Not yet crewman," Kiel replied, feeling the bandage on his head to ensure it was in place. "First, we need to find out what other damage has been done."

The former Psi-Cop still acted as calm as ever, but inside he was seething with rage. Anderson had not done him the discourtesy of pointing out that he had told Kiel this might happen, but that did not stop him from remonstrating with his own inner voice. He knew now he should have waited until all the Earthforce destroyers had been taken out, but he had been too eager for conquest, too eager to win the victory quickly and show he was a power to be reckoned with.

Now the mass driver, the weapon that he was relying on to do the most damage was gone, and he was left vulnerable. "Damage report," he shouted at one of the crew.

The crewman quickly hurried to fulfil his tasks, looking down at the computer and reading off the list of damaged systems. "Mass driver has been des..."

"I can see that you idiot," Kiel shouted, pointing to the display screen, where it was plainly evident that the forward six kilometres of the warship was no longer there. It was somewhere behind them, scattered across space. With any luck, the remains of the Rasputin were somewhere out there as well. Its destruction would be a small ray of sunlight in an otherwise very black day indeed. "Concentrate on the other systems," he told the crewman, his voice dropping a little as he calmed down.

"Sorry Sir," the crewman replied. "Main power is back up, but only operating at fifty percent. Fighter command was up, but when the main power switched on it shorted out. Unfortunately, we won't be able to give new orders to the fighters until the computers are repaired."

"How long?" Kiel asked him, aware that the fighters were the Enlightener's main line of defence.

"Repair crews are on the way. They have given me an estimate of about two hours. However, the fighters were given the command to return to base and take up defensive positions before we lost the computer. That should keep us intact and protected until the repairs to the main computer are completed."

"Good," Kiel said with a nod of pleasure. At least now, he knew that the enemy vessels, if any were still intact, would be unable to press home the advantage they currently had and destroy his ship before it could regain full power. "Anything else."

"Jump engines are also down, but repair crews estimate about two or three hours and they will have them running again. The rest of the ship's system survived the explosion intact. Artificial gravity was maintained in most sectors, and the reports of injury are slight. It appears that they only took out the mass driver. The rest of the ship is intact.

"Sir," Anderson called out, attacking Kiel's attention. "I recommend that we consider withdrawing from battle as soon as we are able to jump. Those fighters unable to dock with us can jump to Hyperspace with us, they would have enough fuel to make it to a safe system outside Earth Alliance space."

"On the eve of my victory," Kiel said. "No Mr. Anderson, we will not run. Certainly, we have lost the mass driver, but we still have thousands of fighters left. We can destroy the few Earthforce ships that might remain and then take out Proxima before they can stop us. Then we can still move on to Earth. It will not be as easy, but still very possible." He turned to the crewman at the damage control computer. "How many fighters did we lose?"

The crewman looked down at the screen in front of him again, this time taking nearly a minute before he came up with an answer. "Just under five hundred, Sir. Most were engaged with the Earth fleet and were able to avoid the blast."

"See," Kiel said, turning back to Anderson. "That still leaves us with around nine and a half thousand fighters, more than enough to destroy anything Earthforce sends... Wait a minute, someone is trying to scan us."

"I feel it too, Sir," Anderson said, turning around to face the back of the bridge. "It is coming from somewhere behind us."

"Helmsman," Kiel shouted. "Show us a rear view."

The crewman nodded and switched the display on the viewscreen to see what was out behind the warship. There, rising out of the cloud of debris like a silver angel, everyone on the deck could see the Rasputin. From this distance, it was almost impossible to see minor damage along the destroyer's hull, and to Kiel, it looked like it was still intact and able to fight.

"Damn," he snarled, pounding his fist into his palm. "That bitch survived. Order all fighters to attack at once."

"They can't be moved until the computer is fixed, Sir," Anderson reminded him.

"Then get the bloody thing fixed," Kiel raged. "I want all repair crews working on the computer repairs and then I want that ship." He stabbed a finger towards the retreating Rasputin, "Destroyed." Then Kiel suddenly paused and the angry light in his eyes went cold. "No wait, I don't want it destroyed. I want it disabled. I want Ivanova to beg for mercy and then I want her here, so I can tear her mind to shreds personally. Now get to work."

As the crew of the Enlightener hurried to carry out their commander's orders, neither telepath on the bridge noticed that the scanning attempt had stopped, they had other things to worry about now.

* * *

Talia laughed and clapped loudly as Susan hit the Psi-Cop with her fist. "Bravo, Captain," she cried out. "I have wanted to do that ever since she came on board."

Susan looked back at the blonde telepath, who was sitting on the railing behind the command station and letting her legs dangle over the side. "You're next," she promised Talia, before turning back to the Psi-Cop, who was sitting on the floor with a shocked look on her face. "Don't you realise what you have done," she said harshly, pointing towards the enemy ship in the distance. "They probably know we are here now."

"Sorry Captain," Sarah managed to blurt you, rubbing her jaw where the Captain had hit her. "I apologise, I should have realised."

"Yes, you should," Susan agreed. She turned to the two marines. "You two," she said, indicating with her finger for them to come towards her. "Take these two civilians and escort them off the bridge. I don't want to see them back here again until I give them permission to enter. Take them to their quarters or somewhere they will be out of the way."

"Yes, Sir!" the two soldiers chanted at once. Then they roughly grabbed the two telepaths by their arms and guided them out of the room.

"I will see you later then, Captain," Talia called out as she left. For some reason, Susan had the distinct impression the telepath was mocking her. Just before she left, Talia stopped and looked back with a smile covering her face. "Oh, and don't worry, Captain, I won't tell anyone."

"Care to tell me what that was all about, Captain?" Petrov asked as he came over to her side, his arm now tightly bandaged and suspended in a sling.

Susan felt an icy chill running down her spine. She thought that knew exactly what Talia had been talking about, as it took a telepath to find another telepath, and Talia must have been scanning her when she had detected Sarah's scan. Then Susan stopped, realising that she hadn't felt anyone scanning her. Even a surface scan she would have been able to detect. A wave of relief washed through her as she realised what Talia had been hinting at.

"I have something of a history with Ms. Winters, Commander," she told him, deciding that was probably the best explanation to put Petrov's mind at rest. "It is not something I want to discuss right now."

"Of course, Captain," he replied. "But I was actually asking why you hit Ms. Chang."

"Oh that," Susan said. "She was telepathically scanning the enemy vessel. There is at least one telepath on that vessel and I had to stop her before she alerted them to our presence."

"I see," Petrov said with a nod. "Well, in that case, I have to agree with your actions and will say so if the Psi-Cop makes an official complaint against you." He paused and looked at the other ship, before a sudden thought struck and he looked back at Susan with a puzzled frown. "How did you know she was scanning the enemy vessel?"

Susan felt cold and, while trying to look calm, searched for something to say, only to aware that the eyes of most of the bridge crew were probably all focused on her right now. "On Babylon 5 I got to have a lot of experience with telepaths and one of them told me a little about how their powers work. I recognised the same look in Ms Chang's eyes just now and knew what she was trying to do."

Petrov nodded and then asked in an almost teasing tone, "I thought you didn't like telepaths Captain."

"I don't," Susan replied. "But there are exceptions to every rule." She turned to look at the bridge doors.

"Ah," was all Petrov said, remembering her admission just a minute ago about having a history with Ms. Winters. He realised that she must have been the telepath on Babylon 5 that the Captain was talking about.

"Damage report in, Captain," one of the crew said, breaking up any further awkward moments and preventing any further questions from Commander Petrov, pleasing Susan no end.

"Lets have it," Susan said, walking away from the Commander, and leaning over the railing to look down on the crewman who had spoken.

He nodded and began reading from the list on his screen. "It isn't too bad captain. We have power to half of the crew quarters, there is a hull breach on deck 2, and several of the auxiliary computer systems have shorted out. Main power, the majority of our weapons platforms, sensors, communications, and guidance are all operating in the green."

"Lets take a look at the hull breach," Susan said, thinking it sounded like the most serious problem right now. Although she was ever aware of the threat the enemy vessel might still pose, Susan needed to know if her vessel was still up to the fight that might resume at any time.

The crewman nodded and changed the display so that it showed the bottom of the ship instead of the normal view. There was a jagged dark tear along a section of the ship and it was possible to see a thin trail of glistening particles flowing out behind the ship. Whatever had caused that tear must have also been responsible for the knocking everyone out of their seats.

"What is that," Susan asked, pointing towards the particles leaking out of the damaged hull.

"Looks like water or something similar," Petrov said, joining her at the railing. He suddenly slapped his hand against his forehead. "Wait a minute... Deck 2, that is water recycling I think, as well as storage."

"Well, there goes my hot shower then," Susan said with an amused smile, recognising the problem wasn't likely to be a major one in the short term. "At least that deck wouldn't have been occupied." She turned back to the crewman. "That reminds me. Why did artificial gravity remain on when we had been damaged? Doesn't that system chew up a hell of a lot of power. I would have thought that it would have been the first system to go down."

The crewman shrugged. "I don't know, Captain. You would have to ask engineering that."

"I will," Susan replied. "Now, you said some of the computer systems had shorted out. Which ones specifically."

"Umm," the crewman said as he searched for the information. "Here we go... Looks like it was mainly minor systems, some of the holographic systems down in the recreation room, a couple of the doors. Wait..." He looked up. "It looks like the main gun is also down Captain."

Susan spun around and pressed the button of her computer console that would connect her with Lieutenant-Commander Dreyer, who, if she remembered correctly, had last been heard of inside the main gun's control room. "Lt. Commander Dreyer, are you there."

A burst of static followed her question and then a weak sounding voice answered. "Still here Captain... Just anyway."

"Good to hear that Lt. Commander," she said, relieved that he had survived. "What happened down there?"

"Well we fired like you asked, then everything went black. Half the systems down here are little more that charred hulks. The tech guys are going to need to do a thorough overhaul before this baby fires again." He paused and the asked, "did we get it, Captain?"

"You certainly did, Lt. Commander," Susan replied. "Right down the middle as we planned."

"Good," Dreyer said. "Well, if it is alright with you Captain, I will head up to the flight deck and see if I can't get a bead on what's happening from up there. I am not sure how long the oxygen is going to hold out down here, the filters are fried as well."

"Link in when you are safe," Susan said. "There is still plenty out there for you to shoot at."

"Sounds like fun, Captain," was the gunnery commanders last words before Susan shut off the link.

"Well, that is a bit of a problem," Petrov said. "Without the main gun we can't do a lot against that thing." He pointed at the still massive shape of the enemy vessel on the screen. "We do still have the secondary weapons, but they are only a little more powerful that the main guns on the other destroyers. They also lack the range. We could use our missiles silos, but…"

"Speaking of other destroyers," Susan said, pointing to a spot on the screen. "Zoom in on that area."

The crew hurried to fulfil her commands and soon the screen was showing the battered shapes of six Omega destroyers, and a hundred or so Starfuries milling about. One of the Earthforce vessels was burning badly and even as they watched, an explosion tore through its engineering section. The destroyer still seemed to be operating though, if only barely. As Susan watched she realised that considering the damage the destroyer had taken it was nothing less that a miracle it was still there at all.

"Lieutenant Heneker, see if you can raise them on the link," Susan called to the communications officer.

"Too much interference Captain," the lieutenant replied. "Probably the same thing that effected us, we must have come online again a lot faster than them."

"Keep trying, I want to speak to the other captains before we make our next move, even if it is only to let them know we are still alive. That explosion seems to have knocked out every electrical system nearby, I only hope the Starfury pilots made it through alive."

"They seem to be still operating," Petrov said, pointing out the fact that the Earthforce fighters still seemed to be under their pilot's control.

"That's good, Commander," Susan said. "We still have a lot of our boys and girls out there."

Petrov nodded in agreement and, before he could say anything else, a noisy disturbance crashed its way onto the deck. Both he and Susan turned around and stared in amazement as a wild looking Dr. Kozlowski easily sidestepped the two marines, who had just returned from escorting the telepaths back to their quarters, and hurried onto the bridge. "Captain Ivanova," he said, spying her standing behind Petrov. "Just the person I wanted to see."

Susan wasn't sure she could say the same. The doctor looked like he had just gone ten rounds with an angry Narn. His glasses appeared to be have been broken, and then stuck back together with tape, while a dirty, blood-stained bandage was wrapped around his right hand. The doctor's few remaining strands of hair appeared to be sticking out at right angles, while his normally spotless white coat was stained with a variety of substances, including what looked like blood.

"Dr. Kozlowski," Susan said, trying to avoid smiling at the doctor's slightly comical expression. "Are you here to tell us why the artificial gravity remained on when all the other systems didn't?"

Kozlowski pulled up suddenly, looking extremely puzzled by her question, before responding. "That was because I designed the emergency system to automatically shift energy from storage into artificial gravity in the case of any power loss. It is to stop injuries to the crew in the event of the a power failure in the reactors." He paused and tried to pat down his hair, which refused to obey him, and after every pass of his hand, it sprang back up again. One of the bridge crew laughed, but soon stopped when Susan stared at her.

"So why are you here then doctor," Petrov asked.

The doctor looked confused for a moment, then a flame seemed to ignite in his eyes and he pulled out a notebook that he had stashed under his arm. "I was on the flight deck," he told them. "I was watching the fighters and then when the power came back on I noticed that the enemy fighters were not moving."

"Yes we saw that to," Susan informed him. "Because of the explosion I suspect."

Kozlowski shook his head. "No Captain it wasn't. Those fighters are the same as the one I examined on Proxima and it was shielded against most forms of electromagnetic radiation, as is the Rasputin."

"Why were we effected then," Susan asked.

"Well, that was because we were so close, as was the enemy carrier, so it should have suffered a similar disruption to its systems. In addition, the amount of energy put out by the blast was very powerful. Most of those fighters were too distant to catch the worst of the blast, and the energy that did get through to them was not enough to knock them out for long. I estimate that their systems would have come back online in half the time of ours."

Susan frowned, a puzzled look on her face. "Why were they affected then?"

Kozlowski smiled. "Because they were not receiving any instructions from the enemy vessel," he replied, before standing and looking smug while everyone tried to work out what that meant.

Finally understanding dawned on the faces of those listening to him. "Which means they depend on instructions from their carrier so they can operate."

"Exactly, Captain," Kozlowski said, now smiling broadly. "I also watched what happened when the enemy ship's power came on. The fighter started up about thirty seconds later and all returned to protect the enemy vessel and then made no further move. They could have destroyed us and the other destroyers ten times over by now, but they haven't moved from their positions."

"Why is that," Petrov asked, looking at the thousands of enemy fighters, which were slowly orbiting their command vessel.

Kozlowski shrugged. "I am not sure yet, but I have a theory. Assuming their ship uses mostly Earth technology, then their systems would have come online in much the same way as ours."

"Which means what exactly," Susan asked, still looking confused.

"Well as soon as the power came online the residual energy from the explosion, which would have been trapped in electrical system, caused a spike throughout the entire system. That would likely have shorted out half their computers. Our shielding should be better, so only a couple of systems appear to have been affected, mainly those on the lower decks. The systems down there seemed to have caught more of the blast than the systems on the upper decks."

"So they don't have any control over their fighters at the moment then," Susan asked, possibilities springing into her mind, along with some hope.

"That depends on what orders were given before their computers went down. I would say they probably gave them an order to protect the warship, although it may just have been a return to base command. If it was just a return command, then we can destroy them one by one, without them even shooting back. If it was a protection order, then we will have a much bigger problem."

"Can their computers be repaired?" Susan asked, joining Petrov in looking at the enemy vessels.

Kozlowski nodded. "Yes, they can. I would estimate about three or four hours repair time, but it depends on how many men they have working on it, and how badly damaged it was. If it is only a minor problem then they could be back online in as little as one minute from now, but if they have to replace a good number of circuits then it could take as long as half a day."

"Either way it doesn't help us much. If we try to attack, those fighters could still destroy us."

"Yes, Captain," Kozlowski agreed. "Unless of course you destroy their computer system, then they can't do anything at all. While they have autonomous software to control them in combat, those fighters still depends on signals from their carrier's computers to give them new commands, otherwise they just continue to follow the last order they were given."

"Does that mean we need to get aboard that vessel?" Susan asked.

"There is no way of doing that though," Petrov said. "Any shuttle that was sent could be cut apart by those fighter."

As he spoke a single Starfury could be seen approaching the enemy command vessel, probably sent on a scouting mission by whoever was commanding the fighter squadrons now. Before it could get within range of the carrier, twenty of the tiny fighters that were protecting the enemy vessel broke ranks and blasted the Starfury. Fortunately, the Earthforce pilot was able to dodge in time, and he quickly scurried back to his comrades, while the enemy ships also returned to their positions.

"I guess that answers that question," Susan said, slowly tapping her hand against her leg in annoyance as she watched the brief battle. "A shuttle is never going to make it past that sort of protection."

* * *

"Captain," Lieutenant Heneker called out. "I have Captain James of the Apollo on the link."

"Put him through," Susan replied, turning back to her console. The link from the Apollo flickered and crackled, but she was just able to make out the older Captain. "Captain James," she said. "What is your situation?"

"Not good Captain," James replied, indicating the burning console behind him. "We have taken several severe hits to engineering, and although we still have some power, most of the weapons are down."

"Can you manoeuvre?"

James looked over at one of his crew, which one, Susan could not see over the link. Obviously, whatever answer he received was positive because, when he turned back to her, he nodded. "Yes we still have our thrusters, as well as one of our main engines that is online," he informed her. "That is enough to move us around a little, but not much more. Engineering is working on restoring the rest of our systems."

"And the rest of the fleet?" Susan asked.

"Not good," James replied. "Most of the other vessels have taken damage as well, and we won't be able to take much more of a battering before we are out of this fight for good."

Susan nodded, her mind working as quickly as possible to try to come up with a new plan to deal with the enemy warship. She knew that unless the enemy fighters were destroyed or disabled they would eventually overwhelm the remaining Earthforce defenders. She had a couple of ideas, but nothing concrete yet.

"Do you have any orders, Captain?" James asked, reminding Susan that with the Vice-Admiral missing in action she was now in charge.

She nodded as the inkling of an idea began to come together. "All destroyers except the Rasputin are going to retreat to Proxima III and prepare to defend the colony. While all fighters are to proceed immediately to our position."

"Understood," the other captain said with a sharp salute. "I have just received word that the fighters from Proxima have finally arrived. Do I send them along with the rest?"

"Good," Susan said. "I was wondering when they were going to arrive. We are going to need every fighter we can get our hands on." It was a fair distance from the planet below to the region of space around the jumpgate so it had taken the twelve thunderbolts considerable time to arrive. While they wouldn't appear to make a great difference against huge number of enemy fighters, to the depleted Earthforce ranks they were a big boost.

"I will send them along then," James promised. "Apollo out."

"You have a plan, Captain," Petrov asked. On the screen he could see the Earthforce fleet breaking up, the destroyers retreating while the fighters taking a wide arch around the enemy vessels, heading towards the Rasputin's position. If the enemy commander noticed what was going on, he gave no sign, instead the massive warship just sat there, not even one of its fighters moving from its position.

"Not yet," Susan replied, also watching the movement on the display. "I have an idea, but I would hardly call it a plan yet." She looked around her as if searching for someone. "What happened to Dr. Kozlowski?" she asked. "He was here just a few seconds ago."

"Over here Captain," the doctor called out from the front section of the bridge where he had been chatting with the repair crew working on the sensor console. "Is there something you wanted?"

"What do you know about that troop transport down in the rear shuttle bay?"

"The Akira?" Kozlowski asked with a surprised grin. "Well, I designed most if it actually. It was sort of a pet project of mine, something to pass the time when I wasn't working on the Warlock."

"Does it work?" Susan asked cautiously.

Kozlowski looked shocked that she could even ask such a question. "Of course," he replied, sounding a little hurt. "I don't design vessels that don't work. It is a perfectly functional troop transport with a class c biosilicate armoured hull and upgraded particle beam cannons." He paused for a second and looked faintly embarrassed. "Unfortunately, I am not a skilled pilot, so it hasn't actually been tested yet."

"What are you thinking, Captain?" Petrov asked.

Susan turned around and pointed at the fighters protecting the damaged enemy warship. "A shuttle is not going to be able to make it past those fighters, but an armed troop transport just might. If we use our own fighters to clear a path and then punch through the gap with the troop transport we might be able to get a force onto that warship."

"And then take out their computer system from the inside," Petrov finished for her.

"That's right," Susan said, pleased that her executive officer had picked up the plan so quickly. "Of course it is only an idea and the transport could be destroyed before it even makes it anywhere near the enemy vessel."

"It shouldn't be, Captain," Kozlowski said, coming back up to the command station. "Its hull is made of the same material as the Rasputin's, so it should be able to absorb most of the energy fired at it. I even included weapons, so you can fire back at anyone attacking. Of course, they haven't been tested yet either. Um… I should point out that it hasn't yet been approved by Earthforce for use."

"It sounds like our best chance though," Susan said. Actually she would have preferred to use anything but the evil looking vessel sitting below in the second shuttle bay, but she didn't have much choice. A normal shuttle would be shot to pieces in a matter of seconds, while the transport, which looked very similar to miniature Shadow battle cruiser, would probably survive a lot longer. It was still a long shot, but everything else she had tried so far had paid off. She hoped that this plan would as well.

Susan reached down and tapped a control on the console. The voice of Major Logan answered. "Major," she said. "I want you to round up your marines and meet me in the shuttle bay as quickly as possible. I need as many men as you can find and authorise distribution of high-energy weapons as well. It looks like we may have a little job for you."

"Yes, Captain," the Major replied, and nobody listening could miss the excitement in her voice.

Susan shut down the link and headed for the door. The commanding bark of Commander Petrov's voice stopped her cold. "Just where do you think you are going, Captain?" he asked. He already knew exactly what she intended to do, and didn't approve one bit.

"Down to the shuttle bay," she replied a little curtly, not appreciating her movements being question by her X/O. "Someone needs to fly that thing, and with all the fighter pilots somewhere out there I am the most experienced pilot left on board."

"The place of a captain is on the bridge," Petrov argued. "You can't just jump into every dangerous situation that comes along. Let someone else fly the transport. We still have all our designated shuttle pilots on board."

"They don't have any combat experience though, do they Commander." Susan turned to resume her journey towards the shuttle bay, the argument over as far as she was concerned.

"That doesn't matter, Captain," Petrov said as she walked towards the door leading off the bridge. "This is your command and as the current commander of this battle group, you have to remain here and direct the action. If you fly this transport over there, it is likely you will die. As your executive officer, I have to advise strongly against this course of action. The Rasputin is the only intact warship left in the combat zone and it needs its captain."

Susan stopped again and turned around, walking back to Petrov. "I am leaving you in command," she told him. "You can take over here while I am gone, that is your job, after all. If the captain is away or incapacitated, you are supposed to take command. Right now I want you to look after things here, while I try and end this battle before we all die."

"What do you want me do then, Captain," Petrov asked, giving up the attempt to stop Susan risking her life.

Susan paused and looked up at the holographic display. She pointed to the cluster of enemy fighters. "Do you see those ships, Commander?"

"Of course, Captain."

"If they move, shoot them."

"Is that all, Captain?" Petrov asked as she walked away towards the bridge doors.

"That's it, Commander," Susan replied, pausing only briefly at the doors. "If those fighters move, that means the enemy has control of them again and they will be coming after all the surviving Earthforce vessels, including this one. So if they move out of a defensive position, then do all you can to destroy them before they can attack Proxima." She looked down at Dr. Kozlowski. "Doctor, you had better come with me. I may need you to explain to me how to operate the transport's controls."

"Quite probably, Captain," Kozlowski replied, quickly gathering up his notebook, glasses, and a bulky package Susan hadn't noticed before and follower her out the door.

Behind them Petrov made his way over to the command chair and took his seat. His arm ached horribly, but his thoughts were troubling him more. His job was to try to keep everyone alive, and as far as he was concerned, this plan of the Captain's was nothing short of suicide. Of course, she was right though, if they didn't attempt a strike on the enemy vessel, then the Rasputin would be destroyed once the repairs on the enemy vessel were complete. He wasn't sure an assault with the Rasputin's marines was the best way to go though. Still he wasn't about to try to change the Captain's mind now. She had shown, quite plainly, her determination to try to make this work.

* * *

It took Susan a little less than three minutes to make it down to the shuttle bay, but already Major Logan had the marines assembled. They were a diverse bunch, not exactly what Susan would have expected from Earthforce troops. Instead of lining up in regular rows, they were scattered across the entire bay, busily polishing their rifles, and sharpening knives. Spotting the Major on the far side of the bay, speaking to her second in command, Susan headed towards her.

As she passed one group of marines, she noticed them removing several large cylindrical shapes from a crate. The soldier in charge, a tall, muscular corporal with a bandanna wrapped around his head, nodded a greeting as she passed. Susan didn't return the gesture though, instead looking in surprise at the weapons they were unpacking. When she had said she authorised the use of high-energy weapons, she had meant explosives for blowing up the enemy computers, not heavy anti-armour cannons. Still she wasn't about to complain, they might need that kind of firepower.

"Captain Ivanova," Lily called out loudly, spying Susan approaching. "I nearly have everything ready. All you need to do is show us the target and then we will take it out for you."

That comment bought a round of cheers from the marines, and even a faint smile from Susan. "We have to get there yet, Major," she said, reaching the side of her security officer. "It looks like our only chance to end this without a lot more deaths is to take out the main computer on the enemy vessel. I would prefer to do this with the Rasputin's guns, but the only weapon powerful enough to cut through their hull has been disabled, so that means we are going to have to do it the hard way."

"That is what we are here for, Captain," Lily said with a smile. "Whenever someone has something difficult they want done, they send for the Earthforce marines." Then she grew a little more serious. "I would like to know how we are going to get across to the enemy warship though, Captain. Last I looked, there were still a lot of enemy fighters out there."

Susan nodded, "True, Major. However, I think I might have a way of breaking through the defensive ring of fighters."

"Not in one of those shuttle I hope," Lily said, staring at the nearest shuttle with immediate dislike. She didn't like the sound of taking a flimsy shuttle into a battle zone.

"No, Major," Susan replied, glancing at the large airlock situated at the back of the shuttle bay. She shuddered involuntarily at the thought of what sat in the aft shuttle bay. She could still hear the screams of Shadow vessels echoing in her mind, and although this vessel was silent, the memories it bought back were not.

"Oh, that black thing," Lily said. "What exactly is that?"

Kozlowski stepped up and said proudly, "It is a new model troop transport that I have designed to compliment the Warlock class."

"I see," Lily said cautiously. "I don't like using untried technology. I knew someone, a very good friend of mine, who worked in research. He was given a new weapon to try; something that all the scientists said would work fine. Of course, it didn't and it blew up in his face. How do we know this ship won't do the same? It has been sitting back there ever since I came on board, and so far, I haven't seen it being used."

"That is because there hasn't been need for it yet," Kozlowski replied, a little annoyed that the Major would question the quality of his work. "Anyway, it is based on the same technology as the warlock destroyers. I haven't heard any complaints about the Rasputin yet."

"And right now we don't have any other choice, Major," Susan cut in, knowing they had very little time, and certainly none to spare for arguments. "If we don't make an attempt now, while the enemy's computers are down, then we will be dead either way."

"In that case, if you order it, we are ready," Lily replied. She turned towards her second. "Lieutenant, get everyone packed up and ready to go." She turned back to Susan. "I assume you want to leave as soon as possible, Captain."

Susan nodded. "Yes, Major. I don't know how much of a window we have, but I would assume that it isn't going to be long."

"In that case I will speed things up a little," Lily said. She turned around to look over the shuttle bay. "All right everyone," she shouted. "The Captain here has a job for us to do. We have to take out the enemy vessel from the inside, and as quickly as possible. I want all teams to form up at once and follow Lieutenant Harris' into the aft shuttle bay. So grab your guns and lets get moving."

"Yes, Sir!" came the reply from the assembled marines. The shuttle bay then erupted into activity as weapons were slung over shoulders and packs, loaded with explosives and other equipment, were given a final check. Lieutenant Harris gave a quick salute to his commander and hurried off to organise the loading of the transport.

"That should do it, Captain," Lily said with a smile. Then she bowed her head and swept her hand in the direction of the airlock. "Shall we go," she asked, inviting Susan to lead the way.

Susan nodded and started walking toward the airlock, Major Logan and Dr. Kozlowski in tow. Before she could reach the airlock, the lift doors opened and the two telepaths stepped off. As soon as Sarah Chang saw the Captain she hurried over, a frown on her face.

"Captain Ivanova," she said in an annoyed voice. "Why didn't you inform me you were going to try board the enemy warship?"

"Because I didn't think I needed to inform you of every move I made," Susan replied, not slowing down.

"You are going to need me, Captain," Sarah replied, as she hustled to keep up with Susan.

Susan almost laughed. "And why exactly would I need you for anything, Ms. Chang?"

"Because there are telepaths on that vessel," Chang replied. "If you go over there those telepaths will stop your little invasion dead. You are going to need me. I am a P12, a Psi-Cop, and therefore powerful enough to stop the rogues on that ship from harming you or these soldiers. Face facts Captain, you are going to need me, whether you like it or not."

With a loud hissing sound, the airlock into the aft shuttle bay opened slowly. Susan and those with her stepped inside. "She has a point, Captain," Major Logan said softly to Susan as they waited for the second set of doors to open.

"Very well, Ms. Chang," Susan said. "You can come along, but your assistant stays here. This is a military operation and therefore civilians are not welcome." Actually, Susan's reason for not wanting Talia along were a lot more personal that just obeying the rules. In truth, she didn't want Talia anywhere near harm, the thought of the beautiful blonde telepath lying injured or dead not something she wanted to contemplate.

"I will need her along as well, Captain," Sarah insisted. "She has skills I need to make use of."

The second set of doors slid open exposing the aft shuttle bay and its cargo. The glistening black transport was almost invisible in the dim light, but for some reason it was impossible to miss. It seemed to lurk, rather that rest in the shuttle bay, a dark presence that caused a cold shiver to run down the spines of most who saw it. All except Dr. Kozlowski who hurried forward to see his ship, almost as if it was some long lost pet.

"Well Captain?" Sarah pressed, not willing to give up until she had the answer she wanted. "Can my assistant come along?"

Susan turned and looked at Talia, who smiled sweetly back. For some reason that smile only reminded her how different this woman was from the Talia she had known and loved. Back on Babylon 5 Talia had never seemed to really smile very often, and even when she did, it was twinged by a sadness that Susan had found so attractive.

Susan sighed, knowing that if she disagreed, the Psi-Cop was only going to continue the argument. She didn't want Talia along, but didn't have time to argue. "All right," Susan said at last. "She can come along. However, both of you are going to sit quietly on the way there and then do exactly you are told."

"Thank you, Captain," the Psi-Cop said, although there was nothing genuine in her thanks. Instead, her voice sounded almost triumphant, as if she had just won a great victory.

Susan watched the telepaths walking away, over to where the marines were gathering to board the transport. She wondered if she had made a mistake, after all, telepaths always seemed to stick together and it was possible that Chang was actually working for Anderson, or whoever was on that warship. For all she knew the whole thing could just be a Psi-Corps plan to take over the Earth Alliance.

Dr. Kozlowski hurried back to her side. "Everything appears to be operational, Captain," he said. "We can leave as soon as everyone is on board."

Susan nodded. She turned to Major Logan, who was still looking at the troop transport with some suspicion. "Major," she said. "You can get your troops on board, while I will go and see if I can't work out how to fly this thing." After Lily had nodded her understanding, and walked over to pass on the orders to her marines, Susan turned back to Kozlowski. "Doctor, you can wait here."

"But, Captain," he cried. "You can't leave me behind. This will be the maiden flight, and I want to be on board."

"It is going to be dangerous," Susan argued. "I already have enough civilians on board as it is, without you as well. After all, there is no guarantee that any of us are going to survive."

"That's not important," Kozlowski said. "I have to come, I am the only one who knows what all the controls do. I might not know how to pilot this ship, but there are several new systems I installed that have never been used before."

Susan held up her hands to stop his arguments. "All right doctor," she said. "You can come along, but only if it's understood that you are to stay out of the fighting and remain with the transport."

"Don't worry about me, Captain," Kozlowski replied with a grin, patting the package he still had tucked under one arm. "I know how to take care of myself."

Susan had already turned away and was walking towards the transport, so she didn't notice the doctor's package, instead assuming he meant that he was going to follow her orders. "Good," she replied. "Now, perhaps you can tell us how to get into this thing." She reached up with her hand to touch the hull of the transport.

"No!" Kozlowski shouted, batting her hand away. "Don't touch the hull." he looked around at the marines. "No one is to touch the outer hull, unless you are wearing gloves. If you do, it will drain the life energy out of your body. This is only a test vessel, we didn't have time to cover the hull properly." He walked over to a small control panel mounted on the exterior hull, and after pressing a button, stepped back.

The entire side of the transport began to drop down, creating a metal ramp up into the interior of the transport. To Susan's surprise, the inside looked much the same as every other shuttle or transport she had even been in, and all trace of the Shadow technology vanished. With Kozlowski at her side, she walked up the ramp and into the vessel.

Rows of seats were arranged in a semi-circular pattern along the walls, with a sunken area in the centre for cargo. "Where does the pilot go?" she asked the doctor.

"This way Captain," he replied pointing towards a pressure door on the far side of the chamber.

Susan nodded and followed him, while behind her Major Logan set about finding seats for all her troops, as well as the two telepaths. The pressure door opened into long passage, which had five other doors leading off it. Kozlowski pointed to the far door, and Susan opened it, peering into a small cockpit, where two tall seats faced a wide array of consoles and screens.

"That is the pilot's seat," Kozlowski said, pointing towards the right hand seat. "And the other is the co-pilot's." He sat down in that seat, placing his package carefully down next to him. Of course I can't actually act as your co-pilot, however we should be fine for a short trip."

"What about in a battle?" she asked. "Can the pilot control this transport without any assistance?"

"Of course, the co-pilot is only here to assist."

Major Logan chose that time to poke her head through the door into the cockpit. "Everyone is settled, Captain," she said. "We have also found the turret weapons, so we can shoot back if anything takes a shot at us."

"Good work, Major," Susan replied. "Close the entry ramp and take your seat." Lily nodded and went back down the corridor, closing the door into the cockpit behind her. Susan turned to Kozlowski. "I assume there is a some way of getting from this transport into the enemy ship?"

"Of course, Captain," Kozlowski said with a snort, as if the very idea of not including a boarding clamp was a basic mistake. "We have a laser cutter linked to a magnetic boarding clamp. All you need to do is slide up alongside the enemy vessel and press that button." He pointed to a small button on the co-pilot's console. "Actually I can take care of that if you like, you can concentrate on flying."

"Good," Susan replied. She tapped her link. "Bridge, we are ready to launch. Activate the outer airlock and then, after we are free, get whoever is in change of our fighters on the link." Susan didn't know who was still alive out there. She hoped it was Alister Schmitt; she had grown quite fond of the square-jawed flight commander.

"Yes, Captain," Petrov's voice said over the link.

A loud clang sounded from below as Susan strapped herself into the pilot's chair and indicated for Kozlowski to do the same. At least the controls were a little familiar and not totally alien, as she had expected after viewing the transport from the outside. In fact, they were very similar to the controls of a standard atmospheric shuttle, with the addition of some new systems she didn't recognise.

The transport shuddered slightly as four large clamps descended from the ceiling and attached to the transport's hull, lifting it off the deck. Through the two small windows in the cockpit Susan could see a flashing light on the wall of the shuttle bay changing from amber to red and then the floor slid away, exposing the transport to space. Finally, the docking clamps released and the transport dropped away slowly. There was little gravity in the shuttle bay now that the doors to space were open, but a quick firing of the transports upper thrusters and it was clear.

Her hands on the controls, Susan soon found that, although it might look like a Shadow vessel, the transport handled a little like a standard shuttle. It was somewhat smoother though, and she discovered that it answered her commands a lot quicker. As she flew closely along the hull her link beeped, it was Commander Petrov calling to say that Lt. Commander Schmitt was now ready for her orders.

* * *


	30. Chapter 30

* * *

"Understood, Captain," Schmitt replied, closing down the link. He looked back at his gunner, who had now regained consciousness. "Hold on tight, Macki, it looks like we have a bit of a storm coming up."

"I think I will survive, Sir," Mack replied, checking over his controls. There wasn't a lot of weapons left on the Lightning, but the rotating plasma cannon would do a lot of damage to anything that came their way.

Alister flicked the switch that would allow him to speak to the other fighters. "All right, listen up," he said. "We have our orders, we need to clear a path through those fighters to allow the transport in. Try to stay alive everyone, but it is more important that the shuttle survives."

A large group of Thunderbolts flew above, and Alister noticed with some relief that one of them was his daughter's fighter. He hadn't know if she had been alive or not, but after the explosion had been too concerned with trying to get his own fighter's systems back on-line to worry. Fortunately no-one had died during the brief loss of power, and the emergency systems had done their jobs.

Noticing the dark, spiky shape of the troop transport come shooting out from below the Rasputin, Alister increased power to his own fighter, slipping into an escort position. The rest of the surviving Earthforce fighters gathered around them, forming a protective cloud that would do anything possible to protect the Captain's transport.

The enemy fighters did not move until the small fleet was just within range of their weapons, and then they exploded into action. The Earthforce starfuries scattered as the incoming fire cut into their ranks. Several vessels took hits, and two exploded before the battle was joined. The void between the Rasputin and the Enlightener erupted into flame as multi-coloured bolts of energy began to fly between the enemy fighters and the Earthforce ships.

Through it all, the dark shape of the troops transport weaved and bobbed as it tried to avoid incoming fire. Several times it was hit, but the outer hull dispersed the energy successfully with little damage. On the top of the transport two large turreted weapons spun around and sent out beams of energy that sliced straight through any vessel they hit. Each enemy ship that was destroyed was replaced by another ten, and the enemy quickly began to press home the attack on the Earthforce fighters.

Then, just when all looked lost, they where through the ring of fighters. The Transport continued onwards towards the warship, while the starfuries spun around to provide protection. The enemy fighters stopped, as if deciding which vessel to pursue, but finally were restricted by their programming, which told them to provide a defensive ring around the warship. This allowed the transport to make its way safely to the hull of the enemy warship, while behind them the battle went on.

* * *

A dull clang rang through the transport as the magnetic docking clamp attached itself to the outer hull of the enemy ship like a limpet. Kozlowski switched on the monitor on the console in front of him, watching as the bright cutting laser sliced into the warship's hull. As soon as it was through the docking clamp extended itself through the hull of the enemy warship and expanded to create a secure, air-tight seal. There was a sudden burst of escaping air before the seal was complete and then passage into the enemy vessel open.

As soon as the link between the two ships had been established, the first of the marines leapt through the docking collar into the enemy vessel. They found themselves inside a dark cargo area, unprotected by any defenders. It did not remain empty for long though as a door at the far end opened and spewed out several PPG totting guards.

The warship's defenders were no match for the Earthforce marines, with their powerful military rifles, and were quickly cut down. The marines knew that more would soon be on the way, so they spread out and secured the cargo hold, ready to defend against anyone else who tried to enter, while the rest of the assault force streamed out of the transport.

"The room is secure, Major," a soldier said, hurrying back from the cargo bay doors. "We encountered some minor resistance and have neutralised it."

Major Logan nodded. "Good work, Private. Go back to your position and make sure no-one else gets in here until we have unloaded everything. Sing out if anyone else enters..."

A voice coming from a hidden speaker broke into their conversation. "Warning, enemy troops have penetrated cargo bay three. Units one to twenty are to proceed at once to cargo bay three."

"Damn," Lily said. "All right everyone, looks like we are going to have some company soon. I want a solid defensive position set up to stop anyone getting in. All MPC units to the front, and I also want this room searched for other exits and a scanning team looking for a wall we can cut through. OK, lets move it."

The marines rushed to carry out her orders. Several of the soldiers, all carry very large cannons moved across to set up their weapons on tripods, so they pointed towards the open cargo bay doors. Several enemy troopers appeared down the corridor beyond, but vanished almost as quickly as the heavy plasma weapons opened up.

Seeing Ivanova and Kozlowski coming through the passage from the transport, the Major leaned down and picked up two spare PPG rifles that had been piled on the deck. "Here you go, Captain," she said, tossing one of the guns to Susan, and the other to Kozlowski. "I thought you might need these."

"Thanks, Major," Susan replied, slinging the weapon over her shoulder. She still had her own pistol, but the more powerful rifles made her feel a little more secure.

Kozlowski however took one look at the rifle and passed it on to a surprised Sarah Chang, who was just making her way off the transport. He took the package he had carried with him out from under his arm and began to unwrap it. After making sure no-one was watching he removed the weapon he had hidden within and slipped it under his coat. Then with a smile on his lips he walked over to look at a nearby console, hoping to learn something from it.

"What is our position Major," Susan asked.

Lily looked around. "Well there appears be only the one entrance and no-one is going to get in here without a fight. I have a scanning team searching the walls for other passages or rooms. Hopefully, we can cut through that way and get around behind the enemy."

"Will that work?" Susan asked, looking around the dark cargo bay and noticing the heavy weapons being set up to fire at anyone trying to get through the cargo doors.

"It should..."

A loud bang sounded from somewhere close by, followed by a bright flash. Then Susan and Lily were treated to the sight of Dr. Kozlowski frantically trying to put out a tiny flame that was burning away the few remaining hairs on his head. One of the marines hurried over and wrapped a jacket around the doctor's head, extinguishing the fire before it did any damage. Then the dim lights overhead flickered and died, along with every other electronic circuit in the cargo bay.

"What the hell did you do now, doctor," Susan demanded as soon as Kozlowski had calmed down.

The doctor straightened his glasses, and look timidly up at the Captain, as if worried about what she might think. "I just shut down all the circuits in this area," he replied. Then he pointed towards a large airlock that Susan hadn't noticed before. "Otherwise they would have been able to open that airlock and flush us all out into space. Now they will have to replace the circuits in this section before they can do anything."

Susan looked at the airlock and then back down at the doctor. "Good thinking, doctor," she said, knowing that had Kozlowski not done what he had, it was very possible that everyone could have been killed. She cursed herself for not thinking of it first. After all, the people they were dealing with here thought nothing of killing innocent settlers, so they weren't like to be concerned about spacing everyone in the cargo bay. "How did you do it," she asked.

"It was actually quite easy," Kozlowski informed her. "All I had to do was hook the console up to a power cell and create a feedback loop through the system." He rubbed his head. "Unfortunately the feedback was a little stronger than I originally thought, and it blew out the entire console."

A soldier came running up, clutching a flare to provide light. "Major," he said with a salute. "The scanning team has located a weak spot in one of the walls. We are ready to begin cutting."

Lily nodded. "Proceed. I want a full team through as soon as the cutting is complete. Secure the room or corridor that lies beyond and then wait for further orders."

The soldier saluted and hurried off with her orders. Lily turned back to Susan. "I assume you are coming with us?" she asked.

"Yes, Major," Susan replied, activating her PPG rifle. "I am not going to be left behind. If this is going to succeed then I want to be there. If it is going to fail, then it will only be because we are all dead."

On the far side of the cargo bay a bright light flared as the cutting torch began to slice into the metal of the wall. In a few seconds it would be through and then the marines, along with Susan and the telepaths would find themselves in unknown territory. The scanners on the transport had been unable to detect what lay beyond hull so for all she knew they could be cutting into the fusion reactors.

The sudden sound of weapons fire near the cargo bay doors drew everyone's attention in that direction. The enemy forces were beginning to assault the defensive positions the Rasputin's marines had set up. Almost at the same time the cutting team finished their work, opening a passage into the next room, which fortunately was not the fusion reactors.

"Time to go, Captain," Major Logan said, picking up her rifle and slinging a small pack of explosives across one shoulder. "I don't know what lies beyond that wall, but it got to be easier than going out the main door."

Susan nodded and followed the Major towards the opening the cutting team had created. The two telepaths fell in behind, along with Dr. Kozlowski, and about half of the marines. What lay beyond no-one knew, but they all knew that the only chance the Earthforce fleet had was for this mission to succeed. If they failed then the enemy forces would destroy the remaining destroyers, and after them the settlements on Proxima.

* * *

Kiel looked angrier than anyone on the bridge of the Enlightener had ever seen him before. Somehow, a single enemy troop transport had managed to make it past the fighter defences and now Earthforce soldiers were fighting Kiel's own troops somewhere down on the cargo decks. While there wasn't a lot they do down there, if they found their way on to some of the more important decks, his whole plan might be jeopardised.

He had received sketchy reports speaking of heavy weapons fire and mentioning running battles with Earthforce Marines. Vibrating with anger, Kiel had ordered Anderson to take charge of the fighting and eliminate the invading Earthforce troops. Anderson tried to duck the delegation, explaining that he wasn't a trained soldier and had no experience in marshalling troops in the shooting war. Kiel didn't seem to hear a word, instead he shoved a PPG pistol in Anderson's hands and pointed him in the direction of the bridge doors.

Sighing deeply Anderson left the bridge. He didn't intend getting killed just yet so, instead of heading towards the nearest battle, he went to recruit some of the other telepaths on board. He was going to need assistance to take on the large number of Earthforce attackers that were spreading across the ship like a plague of rats.

* * *

This was the second ambush they had run into since leaving the cargo bay. Ten Marines out of the fifty they had started with had been hit by enemy PPG fire and, although none were dead, they had been left behind. Fortunately, the force of marines had with it two medics along who had treated the wounds of those injured before they had lost too much blood. They had organised a shuttle service, carrying the wounded back to the transport, so they would not be left behind in case of an emergency evacuation.

The fighting back in the cargo bay seemed to have died down at least, the enemy forces quickly learning that they would not stand much of a chance again the portable cannons that had been set up. The soldiers with Susan were now a long way from the cargo bay, quickly making their way along a major passage they hoped would lead to one of their designated target areas. While they weren't yet sure of the Enlightener's layout, the passage they were in seemed well used.

However, well used also meant well defended and five minutes after leaving the cargo bay they had run into the first ambush. A short gun battle and three injured marines latter and they were on there way again, only to run into yet another ambush, this time with many more enemy troops. Now, as Susan waited while the Marines exchanged fire with the enemy soldiers, she became more aware that time was rapidly slipping away, and if they didn't find the central computer soon, then it might be too late.

Right now though, Susan had another problem - trying to stay alive. She ducked as a hail of plasma fire cut into the bulkhead above her, showering both Susan and Dr. Kozlowski with sparks. The Marines, crouched down behind a pile of packing crates, jumped up and returned fire and were rewarded by two screams from the enemy force. Susan grabbed the doctors arm and led him back out of harms way back, to where Talia and Chang were pressed against the wall.

The Psi-Cop still had her PPG rifle clutched tightly in her hands, and to Susan's eyes, she looked a little scared. Talia on the other hand looked completely calm and collected, despite the fact she was unarmed. Susan tugged her pistol out of its holster and passed it over to Talia. "Here," she said. "You might need this, just in case."

Talia smiled as she took the pistol, a idle smile of someone who had just been given a new toy, even when they didn't want it. Hefting the pistol in her hand she raised it up until it was level with Susan's head. Then she smiled again before putting the PPG away by sticking it through the belt of her uniform. "You are lucky I like you so much, Captain," she said, walking towards the other side of the bulkhead that was providing them protection, ignoring the PPG fire flying all about her. Fortunately, either through luck or timing, she made it across without a single shot coming anywhere near her.

Susan stared across at her, wondering if Talia really would try and kill her. She didn't know what the artificial personality inhabiting her head might do. So far, it had seemed more intent in finding perverse pleasure from the pain of others, but not in killing anyone. Susan didn't know what it was capable of though, given that it was Psi-Corps incarnate. She shuddered again at the thought of such an evil personality inhabiting the body of someone she had loved so much.

Then her focus on Talia and the memories of the past was claimed by Dr. Kozlowski who was pulling something out from beneath his jacket, something that looked vaguely like a PPG rifle. She remember passing a rifle to the doctor, but hadn't seen him with it since. Then she noticed it wasn't a PPG weapon at all, in fact she had never seen anything like it in her life before.

It was a long, dark barrelled weapon that looked like had been put together in a backyard workshop somewhere. There was nothing beautiful about the weapon, but for some reason Susan felt strangely apprehensive about it. Perhaps it was the fact that Kozlowski was holding it, or its innate strangeness, but Susan knew she wanted to be as far away as possible when it fired. She moved to intercept the doctor and prevent him from doing whatever he planned, but she was too late.

With an eager smile on his face the doctor stepped forward to the bulkhead, pointing the weapon towards the enemy soldiers as he walked. Then, before any of the enemy could notice him he fired the weapon, and promptly shot back in the opposite direction, right into Susan arms. Both of them fell down in a heap, and the weapon went flying off somewhere behind them, landing with a loud clatter against the metal deck.

The effect on the enemy however was a lot more amazing. There was a bright purple flash, so powerful that the Earthforce soldiers were left a little stunned. By the time their vision cleared the enemy soldiers had vanished, leaving nothing but several black scorch marks on the deck where they had been. Then when the sound of boots running in the opposite direction reached her ears, Susan knew that at least one or two enemy soldiers had survived, even if most had perished.

"What the hell was that," one of the marines said, rubbing his eyes in attempt to get rid of the spots that still seemed to be dancing around at the edge of his vision.

The other marines and Major Logan hurried back to see what had happened, while Talia walked over and picked up Kozlowski's gun. She looked interested for a moment, but then, seeing that it was now burnt out by the force of that one, single shot, she passed it over the Susan, who had shaken off Kozlowski and pulled herself back to her feet. The doctor still lay on the floor, blinking rabidly.

Susan helped him up, at the same time demanding, "do you mind telling me what you thought you were doing doctor?"

"Testing my latest project," he replied, spying the weapon in her hand. He made a move to take it, but Susan moved it out of reach and passed it over to Major Logan, who slung it across her shoulder. Kozlowski's face fell as soon as he realised that Susan wasn't going to let him have it back.

"I think you should leave tests like that to research labs," Susan said, shaking her head at the casual way Kozlowski was treating the incident. "Somewhere where you're not going to kill a lot of innocent people, namely me."

"It worked though, Captain," Kozlowski said happily, pointing down the corridor. "In fact, a lot better than I had planned."

Susan was going to continue the conversation, and inform the doctor of just what she thought of his gun, but knew that she didn't have time right now. Despite her misgiving over how it had been accomplished, the corridor was now clear, but if they stood around here talking it wouldn't be for long. "Lead the way Major," she said. "Lets get moving again, and see if we can't avoid any more enemy soldiers for a while.

Lily nodded and quickly gathered up her Marines and headed off down the corridor, Susan and the others in close pursuit. Kozlowski muttered something about needed to examine his gun to make certain readings, but Susan didn't listen, instead just pushed him down the corridor, ever mindful of the clock that was slowly ticking away the time they had left.

* * *

Anderson ran along the corridor as fast as he could. Using a parallel corridor, the Earthforce invaders were slowly picking their way past the defenders he had set up. He didn't know what their target was, but they were getting dangerously close to the bridge. He had set up a large force to defend the only passage to the bridge, but still had the Earthforce soldiers to deal with.

He had learned that there were two forces. One was still in the cargo bay, and somehow they had disabled all the computer systems, denying him information on their numbers and disposition. The second force was the one he had to worry about now though. It numbered just over forty, and was slowly working its way along the main corridor from the cargo bay toward the central lifts. If they made it, there they could easily get anywhere on the ship.

Seeing a soldier with a com unit, Anderson grabbed him. "Where are then now," he demanded urgently.

"Main corridor, blue sector," the soldier quickly responded.

Anderson nodded. "All right, go down to corridor blue six and tell the force there to more to the main access way. They are to set up an ambush near the lifts."

The soldier nodded and hurried off down a side corridor. As he left, Anderson smiled, he had them now. If the Earthforce troops continued down the main corridor they would reach the lifts, but if he was ready for them they would be cut down before they could use them. He quickly reviewed the route in his mind, remembering which teams had telepaths with them and which didn't. Then he hurried after the soldier, towards the perfect place to lie in waiting for the enemy.

* * *

Major Logan looked carefully at the computer screen. Dr. Kozlowski had managed to break the code quite easily and now he had pulled up plans for the ship. "It looks like this corridor leads straight to the main access lifts," she said, scanning the blue prints. "I don't know where the computers we are looking for are, but the lift lead up to the bridge."

"What would happen if we knock out the bridge," Susan asked.

Lily shrugged and looked over at the doctor who was still examining the plans. "Doctor?" she asked.

"That depends on what is on the bridge," he replied, not looking up. "If all their systems depend on commands from the bridge, a highly unlikely scenario, then knocking out the bridge would stop this ship. I would think that each system is independent though." He pressed a series of keys, but the console did not give him what he wanted, instead it went dead. "Damn," he said, the first time Susan had heard him swear.

"What were you trying to do," Lily asked.

"Cause an overload in the fusion reactors," Kozlowski replied. "It appears that can't be done from here though. They must have detected my access and shut the system down."

"Come on then," Susan said. "We can't stay here much longer if they know where we are."

Major Logan nodded, and stepping over the body of the dead guard they had to shoot to get access to the room, she went back outside to join the rest of the surviving soldiers. The corridor outside was long and straight, and according to the maps she had just seen, it was only a short jog to the lifts. From there it would be easy for the assault team to gain access to the rest of the ship.

"All right," she said to the marines. "Lets get going. It isn't far now."

She was about to set off again when a sudden call stop her. "Wait Major," Sarah Chang called. "I can detect minds waiting for us down that corridor."

Lily frowned. "What do you mean?" she asked, staring at the Psi-Cop.

Sarah's brow crinkled in concentration. "I can detect strong emotions and right now I can detect fear and anger in quite a few minds, and they are all along that tunnel we are about to travel down."

"An ambush?" Susan asked, rejoining the rest of the attack force.

"Possibly, Captain," Chang replied in a tired voice. "I am afraid I am not as good at this as Mr. Bester. My range it a lot more than most telepaths though, so I can scan minds at some range. Right now I am feeling at least fifty different minds waiting for us if we go that way."

"What now then, Major?" Susan asked. "Do we take another tunnel?"

Lily thought for a moment. "Can you pinpoint where this ambush is going to take place?" she asked the Psi-Cop.

"I think so," Sarah replied.

Lily face twisted into an evil grin, as a plan formed in her mind. "Then there is no need to change our route." She turned to one of the marines. "Gerry, unpack the launcher. It is time to do a little ambushing of our own."

* * *

Anderson almost laughed at the way everything was going exactly according to the plan he had devised. For the past fifteen minutes his troops had slowed down the enemy considerably, while he prepared for the ambush. Six telepaths were waiting at the far end of the corridor, along with a force of fifty soldiers. Also, hidden in the side corridors, were other, smaller forces, ready to strike from the side. As soon as the enemy soldiers came into range they would be cut down without even being able to fire back.

He was currently hiding in a small alcove, just off the main passage. It was small and cramped, but he wouldn't be seen, at least not before it was too late. Noises from down the corridor attracted his attention and he peaked out to see what was happening. He was just in time to see a missile streak past and explode into the gathered soldiers he had prepared for his ambush. The screams of the dying telepaths echoed in his mind, causing waves of pain to wash over him, and his mind to join in their screams.

Then, while he was still recovering, the Earthforce troops came running down the corridor. With no-one left to defend his ambush position, the battle was a short one. Those few of his troops that survived quickly found themselves pinned down by enemy fire. The Earthforce soldiers somehow seemed to know exactly where to fire. A strange rage filled him, something that was completely out of character for the normally calm telepath. Clutching his pistol in his hand he looked around for a target. Then he noticed something that returned a smile to his face. He might not be able to stop all the Earthforce soldiers, but killing Ivanova would make him feel a lot better.

* * *

Susan suddenly pulled up, an incredibly strong feeling of deja vu washing over her. The corridor they were now moving down seemed so familiar she knew she had seen it before, just where she couldn't remember. Then it came to her, and she remember the strange vision she had seen on Babylon 4. This was the very same corridor, or at least it looked the same. She though back to that day and tried to remember all she could about what she had seen.

It quickly came flooding back and she almost cried out in shock as she remembered exactly what the vision had shown her. Looking up Susan noticed she had fallen behind the rest of the attack force, and they were busy fighting the few remaining enemies, the corridor ahead filled with flying bolts of plasma as both sides traded fire. Spotting Talia walking calmly towards the battle, not even carrying her PPG pistol, Susan felt her heart run cold.

"Talia," she shouted. "Look out."

The blonde telepath paused and looked around at Susan, who was running towards her as fast as she could. Then the blonde telepath took a step forwards, and it was then she was shot. Susan didn't see who fired, all she saw was Talia suddenly clutching at her shoulder, her attractive face twisted in pain. Then Talia's legs seemed to collapse and she dropped to her knees. Susan reached her side just in time to catch her as she fell over backwards.

* * *

There was a sudden flash and suddenly the corridor on Babylon 4 vanished. One moment she was climbing out of the Whitestar into Babylon 4 with the others, and the next she was elsewhere, right in the middle of a fire fight. As the PPG fire screamed overhead she became aware that she was holding someone in her arms. Susan glanced down, looking right into Talia's half closed eyes.

"Talia?" she gasped in confusion, both bewildered and overjoyed all at the same time. Then she noticed the wound, the arm of Talia's green uniform was stained red with the telepath's blood. Susan didn't know what to do, she didn't even know where she was or how she had come to be here. She gently cradled Talia in her arms and tried to make sense of what was going on.

Someone called out, "Captain, get out of the way." Susan looked up, noticing for the first time an Earthforce Major crouched behind a crate, firing a heavy looking PPG rifle over Susan's head. The Major looked at her again. "Get back here Captain, you right in the line of fire."

"Captain?" she asked in amazement. Then the corridor and the battle were gone and she found herself back on Babylon 4, Delenn and Marcus looking just as confused as she was.

* * *

Susan blinked, and to her surprise found herself staring at Major Logan, who was staring straight back, and look of horror on her face. "Look out," the Major screamed. Susan turned around slowly, just in time to see the telepath Anderson levelling a PPG pistol towards her head. Susan, her arms occupied with Talia could not reach for her own gun, even if she did remember where she had dropped it.

There was a bright flash and a loud, cracking noise close by, the sound of a PPG firing. Susan froze, thinking for a fraction of a second that her time was up, but instead it was Anderson who staggered as he was hit. He clutched his hands to his chest, let out a short, strangled cry, and toppled backwards, his PPG falling from his hands and clattering to the deck beside him. Susan stared at him in shock, before her attention was grabbed by the sound of another pistol hitting the metal deck plating.

She spun around and looked at Talia, who was still supported in her arm. Lying on the deck next to the wounded telepath was the PPG pistol Susan had given her earlier. Talia looked at her, and as Susan watched the normal cold look in her eyes seemed to fade, replaced by a sadness she loved so much. Talia raised a hesitant hand to Susan's face and gave her a look so beautiful that Susan felt her heart melting away.

"Help me, Susan..." Talia whispered, her words slowly trailing off as her body went limp and her eyes flickered shut. Her hand slipped away from Susan's face and dropped lifeless to her side.

"No!" Susan cried, tears suddenly flooding her eyes. She shook the telepath gently, but there was no response, not even the slightest flutter of an eyelid. Crying freely now, Susan gently laid Talia out on the deck and begged her to wake up again. A hand touched her shoulder gently and slowly began to pull her away. Susan resisted for a second, but then allowed herself to be guided aside while a marine wielding a medical scanner stepped in to examine Talia.

After a quick scan the medic looked up at an expectant Susan. "She is alive Captain, but has lost a lot of blood. I will need to get her back to the Rasputin as soon as possible. If we can get her to a proper medical bay she should survive."

"Then we should take her at once," Susan said, looking around for someone to carry Talia back to the transport.

Lily pulled her away though. "Not yet Captain, we still have a job to finish."

"But she could die," Susan argued, looking down at Talia's crumpled form, amazed at how small the telepath looked now. Her tears had stopped, and now she felt a terrible ache in her soul, as if she knew that Talia was slowly slipping away from her again. For a moment there, as she held the telepath in her arms she felt the real Talia returning, overcoming the artificially personality. Now Talia could be taken away from her again, and she wanted to everything she could to prevent that happening.

"We all could die if we don't finish this, Captain," Lily said angrily. She was growing annoyed, and not to mention a little jealous, at the way Susan was weeping over Talia. As far as she was concerned the telepath could die, she hadn't forgotten the way Talia had tossed her around with her telekinetic abilities. The look on Susan's face was so heartbreaking though that she couldn't bear to let her suffer.

"I will have her taken back to the transport," she told Susan. "They will be able to care for her there until we leave. Right now we have to finish off the enemy forces before they regroup. Unless we take out the computer she will be dead anyway. That is what you told us, remember."

Susan nodded slowly, finally recognising the wisdom in the Major's words. She knelt down and brushed Talia's hair away from her face. She looked so peaceful lying there that Susan almost imagined that Talia was just sleeping, and the telepath's life wasn't slipping away as she watched. A sudden rage built up inside her, a cold feeling of hatred toward however had been responsible and picking up her PPG rifle Susan looked around for the enemy soldier who had shot Talia.

Her rage calmed though when she saw what lay around her, the twisted bodies of the dead soldiers, and the burn marks on the walls. Whoever had shot Talia was probably lying dead now, somewhere out there on the blood stained decks. It didn't really make Susan feel any better, but at least she lost the anger she was carrying inside her, replacing it instead with a cold sense of duty. She looked over at Lily. "Lets go, Major," she said. "We don't have any time to stand around here."

Major Logan nodded and the two officers headed down the corridor towards the lifts. Behind them Sarah Chang looked at the unconscious form of Talia and then at the dead soldiers. Feeling a little sick she hurried to catch up with Susan and the marines. This certainly wasn't how she thought a live-fire battle would be, in fact before today she had never fired a weapon in anger. She had used her telepathic abilities to cause pain and harm to others, but that wasn't the same as seeing blood spilled in battle. She clutched her rifle tighter than even and hoped this would end soon.

* * *

"Main computer repairs are now complete, Sir," one of the bridge crew said to Kiel.

The Psi-Cop didn't answer though, instead just sat there looking at the screen that showed the progress of the enemy troops. It hadn't moved in nearly ten minutes, ever since the last communication from Anderson. Despite his best efforts to raise his assistant there had been no response, so Kiel was forced to admit that maybe Anderson was now dead. He could only hope his troops were still down there holding off the attackers or his plan for domination of the galaxy was coming to a close.

"Sir," the crewman repeated. "Main computers are on-line. What are your orders."

This time Kiel heard him and looked up. "Order the attack," he said. "Send our fighters out and destroy every remaining Earthforce vessel."

"Yes, Sir," the crewman replied with a salute.

Then the doors to the bridge opened and everyone's heads turned in that direction. It wasn't Anderson, as Kiel was hoping, instead the green clad forms of several EAS Marines leapt into the room, firing as they entered. Kiel ducked under the first attack and drew his own pistol. While the Marines slaughtered his bridge crew, he reached out with his mind and send a thought of pain into the nearest enemy soldier. Then as the soldier doubled over in pain Kiel peeked over the edge of the console he was hiding behind, and shot the enemy soldier in the back with his pistol.

He repeated this two more times, careful to remain out of sight until he had disabled all the enemies who could fire at him. Then as he prepared to kill a forth marine he felt a tingling in the back of his mind, recognising another telepath was reaching out to engage him in telepathic combat. Finishing off the soldier, he glanced over the edge of the console and saw a tall Asian woman clutching a PPG rifle enter the bridge, looking around in shock.

Kiel smiled as he recognised the woman as the agent Bester had sent to spy on him while he had been staying on Mars. Not wanting to risk a mental battle with another P12 he raised his pistol again and shot her. She moved at the last minute though, and all his shot did was burn one hand, although it did knock the rifle out of her grasp at the same time. Annoyed with himself he raised the pistol for another shot.

* * *

Sarah felt a sudden flare of danger, and then a painful burning sensation in her left hand. She dropped the rifle, and clutched her hand in pain. It was then she noticed she had been shot and she dived to the ground, just in time to avoid the second shot that flew over her head. She reached out with her mind, searching for her attacker, only to have her thoughts driven back by an incredibly powerful block.

She knew then who she faced. According to the records Bester sent her, there was only one telepath capable of such powerful blocks, and that was Harvey Kiel. She felt the renegade beginning to assault her mind now, and struggled to block his probing attacks. The pain in her hand was distracting and despite all her training she felt her resolve faltering.

Kiel needed no second invitation and he slipped into her mind and began assaulting it from within with images of death and pain. She might be his equal in strength, but Sarah lacked the experience to truly battle a telepath with the skill of Kiel. She threw every defence she knew at him, creating wall after wall in her mind, but he broke through each one. Out of the corner of her eye she could see movement near the doors onto the bridge, and glanced that way, hoping help was on the way.

It was only a momentary lapse, but Kiel took it. He sent a powerful though of pain directly into Sarah's mind, sending collapsing to the floor in pain. Unable to hold him off, she felt every nerve ending in her body begin to sting, as if a hundred thousand needles were being plunged into her body. Then, as suddenly as it had begun, the pain was gone, and she slipped away into a peaceful sleep.

* * *

Firing wildly down the corridor, Susan noticed with some pleasure the last of the enemy troops beginning to make a run for it. Major Logan and the remaining marines set off in pursuit, while Susan headed off towards the bridge with Dr. Kozlowski. It was then that she heard gun fire from the bridge, and remembered that five marines, along with Sarah Chang had headed in that direction while she had been busy fighting the troops outside.

The doors were open, and beyond Susan could see the bodies of the marines lying twisted on the floor, along with several other men she didn't recognise, but imagined would be the enemy bridge crew. Then she spotted Sarah Chang, curled up on the floor, looking like she was in incredible pain. Susan wondered what could be causing such pain and hurried over to assist her, not noticing the shape of Kiel hiding behind his console.

She had nearly reached Sarah's side when a suddenly powerful thought burst into her mind. The flimsy blocks she kept erected to prevent her mind from being scanned were torn down and swept away as Kiel changed targets from the Psi-Cop to her. She sensed a feeling of surprise as Kiel realised that she had tried to block him, and then nothing but pain.

The pain assaulted not only her mind, but also her body. It was so powerful she dropped to her knees and clutched her head in her hands, trying to do anything to stop the pain Kiel was causing. Susan attempted to bring her block back up and keep him out, but her latent telepathic abilities were not strong enough to stop the former Psi-Cop's probing.

Then, just when she was beginning to pass out from the pain, it happened. It was like a hammer blow in her mind, a sudden burst of energy and pain that swept her mind clean. Susan's eyes, which had been clenched tightly shut to try and prevent the pain, opened, just in time to see the deck rising up to meet her. As she struck the floor with her forehead, real pain shot though her, taking her mind away from the illusion being sent by Kiel. Still lying on the floor, Susan looked across at him, noticing that he was staring at her in shock and just a little, fear.

She picked up her rifle from where it had fallen and tried to point it in Kiel's direction. The powerful telepath simply smiled and began his assault on her mind once more. This time though it was different, and she could feel him inside her mind, feel what he was doing. It was like listening to a song and seeing the notes appearing in the air in front of you, and to stop the song all you had to do was pluck the notes out of the air and it would end.

This is what Susan did, slamming the door into her mind closed and sending Kiel's mind spiralling back into his body. He staggered at the power of the blow before getting to his feet and slowly walking toward Susan. _'You are strong, Captain,'_ she heard a voice in her mind say. _'But untrained. I will tear you apart bit by bit.'_ Susan grabbed hold of a nearby console and dragged herself up to her feet, her PPG rifle lying forgotten at her feet. _'So you want to challenge me do you, Ivanova,'_ the voice continued. _'Then prepare to die in pain.'_

The next thing she knew she was staggering after a powerful blow struck her mind, forcing her back down to her knees. A shockwave of mental energy passed over her, but somehow she managed to hold her blocks in place. Kiel didn't let up though, sending a series of short stabbing thoughts into her mind, each one stronger that the last. They were designed to break down the barriers she had erected, and Susan quickly felt the thrusts going deeper and deeper into her mind.

Kiel smiled now, realising he had her. He was surprised that she had put up such a good fight, an untrained telepath, even a strong one should not be able to hold off a trained Psi-Cop. Susan's blocks crumbling, he decided to make her suffer and reached into her mind and snatched from her memories her greatest fears, amplified them and sent them back a thousand times stronger.

Caught in a nightmare of her own fears and phobias Susan found herself unable to hold off Kiel as he prepared to finish her off. Watching her roll around on the floor screaming in pain amused him, and made up a little for everything she had done to his plans, so he held off a little while to watch her suffer.

That proved to be his mistake, perhaps the last he would ever make. Images of her mother, and everyone she loved, dying over and over in her mind were too much to handle and Susan screamed as loud as she could, trying to drive away the demons that haunted her. It was not a audible scream though, but rather a mental cry of pain, horror and fear. Kiel found himself thrown into retreat by the power of Susan's cry. It cut through his mind like a knife, ending the assault he was conducting and causing him to topple over backwards, striking his head against a console and knocking him out cold.

Susan lay on the floor of the bridge, whimpering in pain and fear. The cause of the pain was gone, but memory of the fear still remained, running around and around in her head. The after effects of Kiel's brutal assault on her mind could still be felt, so strongly that Susan was unable to do anything but try and hide from the pain. Inside her mind, her worst nightmares still played over and over, and there seemed no escape.

Then, caught in the nightmare that had plagued her dreams so many nights recently, she paused, a song suddenly catching her attention. It was so beautiful and, despite the pain she felt, she tried to reach out towards it. The nightmare vanished and in its place she heard only the song, and with it a voice that seemed to speak to her. _'Rest now little one,'_ was all it said.

Then it was gone and for the brief fraction of a second there was only darkness and peace. Then noise, a hundred voices all shouting in her mind at once. Susan cried out again and slapped her hands over her ears, trying to block out the noise. As she did she also involuntarily raised the blocks in her mind, and the voices began to slip away until they were just a faint hum in the background, still there, but not pounding at her skull like a sledgehammer.

Susan didn't want them in her mind though, she didn't want to be a telepath. She tried again and again to push the noise out of her head to shut out the voices, but they were still there, a faint whisper she could hear whenever her mind was quiet. Sobbing helplessly, she curled up into a ball and let her tears flow freely down her cheeks. All her life she had tried to stop this moment from happening, but now it was here she couldn't do anything to stop it.

She remembered the dream she had experienced on the Mars station, how she had been given a choice. She had faced a choice between life or death, and she had chosen then to live, to embrace her abilities. She had wanted Talia back, had thought that by seeking to use the telepathic abilities that lay locked away in her mind she could save her love. Now they had risen within her and she was a telepath, and no matter what she did, she knew there was no way to stop the voices now.

* * *

Major Logan hurried onto the bridge of the enemy warship, looking everywhere for the Captain. The last time she had seen Susan it had been heading in this direction with Dr. Kozlowski. She spotted the doctor at once, tapping away at a computer console, but it wasn't until she heard a sobbing sound that she found Susan.

The Captain was lying curled up under a console, her arms wrapped tightly around her body, sobbing softly, her face wet with tears. "Captain?" Lily said, reaching down to touch her.

"Go away," Susan cried, the terrible pain she felt reflected in her voice.

"What happened," Lily asked, looking around the room for anything that could have hurt Susan.

Susan choked out a reply between sobs. "...telepath...the voices..." was all the Major could make out. She looked around at the carnage on the deck, and noticed the dead bodies lying everywhere. Five of her marines lay dead, four lying twisted up as if they died in pain, and the last one sprawled across one of the computer consoles. There were a large number of other bodies as well, some dressed in uniforms, and one near Susan with the symbol of Psi-Corps stuck to his jacket.

Lily understood what must have happened now. The telepath lying near Susan must have done something to her, something that left her so frightened she had ended up like this. She knelt down and gently helped the Captain back up to her feet, although she wasn't getting much assistance from Susan. Lily looked over at Kozlowski. "Doctor," she called. "A little help over here would be nice."

"I am a bit busy," Kozlowski replied, not looking up from his work. "Give me a minute."

Lily was about to go over and strangle him when a large group of her soldiers arrived. She quickly drafted them into helping her with the Captain and managed to get Susan up in a seat. She didn't seem to acknowledge anyone though, just sitting there with tears rolling down her cheeks. She looked so upset that Lily could not help put feel sorry for her. She didn't know what the telepath had down to her, but it must have been horrible to leave her in such a state.

"Captain," Lily said again, this time louder. When Susan still didn't respond, Lily sat down near her and put her arm around Susan's shoulders to comfort her. This touch seemed to cause a reaction and Susan seemed shudder and then she asked in a very small voice. "Is he dead?"

Lily glanced over at the telepath, noticing the blood flecking the edge of the console and the total lack of movement. "Yes Captain, he is dead."

Susan nodded and wiped her hands across her eyes trying to hide the tears. She could feel strong protective emotions coming from the Major, and as much as she hated the idea of being a telepath, Susan didn't want to appear weak. Despite Lily's strongly voiced protests, she struggled back to her feet. She still felt horrible, but there was a job to do, one that would save a lot more lives than just hers.

She looked over at Kozlowski, who was just finished some sort of program on one of the consoles. Pressing a final key he hurried over to the next console and typed in another quick command. Then he hurried over the Susan and Major Logan. "I think it would be a good idea if we left now," he said, his tone sounding very urgent. "I have rigged the fusion reactors to blow. I don't think we should be on board when that happens."

"We had better get back to the transport then," Lily said to Susan who nodded in agreement.

"What about her," Kozlowski, pointing towards Sarah Chang who lay, unnoticed, next to another console.

Lily quickly ordered two marines to carry the still unconscious Psi-Cop with them, while others slung the bodies of the five dead soldiers over their shoulders. Susan followed them all out of the room, not looking back at Kiel's body. There was no looking back for her now, she could never return to what she had been. She could only hope that everything she had ever feared would not come true, and she could keep Psi-Corps away.

Behind her a figure emerged from the darkness at the back of the bridge and watched as the humans left the bridge. Spotting the fallen figure of Kiel, the alien hurried over to his side and checked to see if he was still alive. Then, finding he was, the alien picked up the telepath with one gloved hand, and dragged him away.

* * *


	31. Chapter 31

Like a mosquito that had finished its meal of blood, the black troop transport detached itself from the hull of the enemy warship and powered away towards the distant Rasputin. Inside the cockpit, Susan concentrated solely on keeping the ship flying level and avoiding the enemy fighters. Fortunately, that task was made a lot easier by the fact that the tiny fighters were no longer shooting at any of the Earthforce ships, instead the were passively returning to dock with their mothership.

The remaining starfuries, their numbers perhaps halved by the recent battles, gathered around the transport in a protective formation. None of the enemy fighters showed even the slightest interest in their defensive formation however, but seemed to avoid any contact. Even when shot at, the fighters did not return fire, a fact that pleased the Earthforce pilots no end.

It was an anti-climatic ending to what had been an epic battle. A small Earthforce fleet had defeated a far more powerful enemy and had lived to tell the tale, at least they had so far. On the journey back from the enemy warship's bridge Susan and the Marines had not run into any organised opposition. Instead, the surviving enemy troops had only put up a half-hearted opposition, before fleeing when the voice of the ship's computer began warning of an imminent reactor explosion. Everyone, both friend and foe, had made a mad dash for the life pods, or, in the case of the Earthforce soldiers, the troop transport.

Most had made it, but among the sudden cloud of life pods escaping, no-one noticed a single, tiny shuttle that exit the Enlightener's shuttle bay and shot off, straight towards the jumpgate. As soon as the assault force had made it back to the Akira, Susan had broadcast a message about the enemy ship's coming fate, so every vessel was moving as fast as it could away from the wounded warship. Most of the Earthforce vessel were already out of range, but the rest, including the transport and the fighters, retreated at maximum burn.

The transport was halfway back to the Rasputin when it happened. The program Dr. Kozlowski had designed created a feedback loop in the Enlightener's two huge fusion reactors. The more energy each reactor put out, the more that was cycled back in to increase the energy production. No reactor, even the modern ones on board the warship, could handle that much energy, and with the safety systems also disabled by Kozlowski's program, it was less than fifteen minutes before the reaction finally reached a critical level and the warship exploded.

For the second time that day, a new star was born over Proxima, a brilliant flash of light that lit up space for miles around. The out of control fusion reaction tore through the superstructure of the Enlightener, burning away all in its path and at the same time drawing in more and more fuel. Then, when the explosion reached the mass driver, it ignited the unstable Quantium-40 cores inside the asteroids.

Enough Q-40 to power three jumpgates was stockpiled inside the six remaining asteroids and the explosion it created was suitably immense. The enemy fighters, recalled by Kozlowski's command, were caught in the powerful energy wave that spread out from the dying warship. Later, when the clean up teams arrived to neutralise the left over radioactive materials, very few enemy fighters would be found to have survived to explosion. In fact, out of the ten thousand fighting drones that had entered the Proxima system, three were left intact, and only then because they had been disabled early in the battle and had been left behind the fleet.

Aware of what was about to occur, the Earthforce ships were moving away from the warship as swiftly as possible, so not even the Akira, or its protectors, were caught. The survivors from the Enlightener were not so lucky. The few surviving life pods that had managed to move far enough away not to be burned to crisp by the explosion were picked up by an Alliance warship hours after the battle. Those in the slower pods, perhaps the lucky ones considering the prison that awaited the other survivors, died instantly as the burning wave of energy turned their tiny life pods into a brief sparks of multi-coloured light, before scattering their particles across space.

Only one other vessel survived the day, a tiny shuttle that pulled away on engines just powerful enough to outrun the wave of energy created by the explosion. Dark against space, it was almost impossible to detect, especially on scanners that were already filled with the bright flare of the Enlightener's destruction and it slipped away without being noticed. In fact, the first the surviving Earthforce ships knew of the shuttle was when the jumpgate opened and it escaped into Hyperspace. No-one was prepared to set out in pursuit though, even if their vessels had been operating at one hundred percent capacity.

* * *

A large crowd of excited crew members were on hand to greet Susan and the rest of the attack force as the black transport glided back into its bay. With a loud clang and a sudden rush of air the outer doors closed and the aft shuttle bay was slowly repressurised. As soon as an atmosphere had been established, and the airlock from the main shuttle bay opened, the waiting crew members all rushed in, eager to greet the triumphant assault force.

Their joyful greetings soon faded though, as the crew glimpsed the first of the wounded being carried out of the shuttle. Fortunately, only eight of the soldiers had been killed, but only three of the remainder had escaped without injury. Even Major Logan was limping, a bandage around her leg covering up the knife wound she had suffered. Others were worse though, some with life threatening PPG wounds to their torsos, and others with multiple injuries. A PPG did seal and cauterise the wound within seconds of being struck, but not before considerable bleeding had occurred.

The welcome party promptly turned into a makeshift medical team. The walking wounded were assisted down from the transport, although most, including Major Logan, insisted on making their own way. The worst of the injured were helped onto stretchers and sent off to sick bay, where the Rasputin's entire team of doctors was preparing to perform life-saving operations. However, despite the number of causalities, the general feeling was one of elation and triumph. Only two hours before the Rasputin's crew had faced death at the hands of mighty adversary, and now they were victorious, heroes of Proxima III, and saviours of the entire Earth Alliance.

Susan didn't feel this way though, instead, she was awash with apprehension and fear. Throughout the journey back to the Rasputin she had been preoccupied with the shattering realisation that her carefully constructed life was sundered. Her once dormant telepathic powers had now bloomed within her, and with only the slightest amount of effort she could reach out and peer into someone's mind. This was exactly the ability she had cursed and hidden from her whole life. The only thing she could think of was what would happen to her when Psi-Corps finally caught up with her.

Her powers appeared to have increased exponentially since this morning. Where before she had trouble scanning anyone, even another telepath, now Susan could pick up the thoughts of others from several metres away, even when she was trying to block them. Right now her head was throbbing with the strong emotions she was picking up from the crew waiting outside. She thought about remaining exactly where she was and hoping they all left, but knew that wouldn't make any difference. She had to face the crew, she was their captain after all, and they would be expecting her to make an appearance.

Closing her eyes for a moment she concentrated on shutting out the voices, but succeeded only in getting them to fade into the background a little more. With practice, she would probably be able to shut out all but the strongest emotions, but now she was still an unskilled telepath, and her fears about what she had become were preventing her was obtaining the clarity of mind that she needed.

There was also the worry about Talia, wondering if she would survive, and if she would still be dominated by the artificial personality. Susan had to see her, had to make sure she was still all right. She knew that it was unlikely that the Psi-Corps implanted personality would be removed so easily, fearing that the brief moment of freedom on the Enlightener had only been achieved through the pain from Talia's injury. She felt an overriding compulsion to make sure Talia was still alive. It was more important now than anything else, even the adulation of her crew and the people of Proxima.

Straightening her uniform, and making sure her hair was still tightly braided, Susan made her way down from the transport and into the crowded shuttle bay. The thoughts and emotions of those gathered below washed over her mind like an inexorable tidal surge. Strangely, she felt energised and lifted by what she picked up. Impassioned feelings of elation and euphoria were most common, and these emotions seemed to wipe away a little of the fear and self pity that Susan was feeling. It didn't last for long though, as the pain of feeling so many emotions at once began to eat into her. Even a fully trained Psi-Cop would have been battered by the onslaught, and for the first time Susan realised why so many telepaths were loaners, keeping away from others.

Those crew not otherwise occupied tending to the wounded, quickly gathered around her, all eager to welcome her back to her ship. After much hand shaking and many pats on the back, Susan finally made it across to the airlock. The short trip to the airlock had helped her understand why telepaths wore gloves, because each time her hands were grasped by one of the crew she felt the rush of a sharp surge of emotion, and the surface thoughts of the person congratulating her pounding into her brain.

By the time she found herself walking through the airlock into the main shuttle bay, she felt sick, her face as white a sheet. While the thoughts of those in the aft shuttle bay were mainly on the victory, Susan could already imagine what she would feel when she had to walk among those with darker things on their minds. She shivered at the mere thought of what might happen.

"Captain," a weak voice nearby called out.

Susan turned around and saw a stretcher carrying Sarah Chang being wheeled past, the Psi-Cop looking at her, and holding out her hand. Susan refused to touch Sarah, knowing that if she did the Psi-Cop would immediately discover her new-found telepathic abilities. She did, however, venture over to see what Sarah wanted. Not to close, but close enough to hear what the other woman was saying.

"I just wanted to thank you, Captain," Sarah said slowly. "You have done Psi-Corps, and all of Earth a great service.

Susan was confused, wondering exactly what the Psi-Cop meant. For a moment she imagined that Sarah had somehow learned of her telepathic battle with Kiel, but when she lowered the blocks in her mind and listened to the emotions and surface thoughts, of the other telepath there was no sign of what she feared, instead there were just feelings of gratitude.

Perceiving Susan's confusion, Sarah explained. "If you hadn't shot Kiel while he had been distracted with me, all of us would probably be dead right now. Thank you, Captain." Then she was wheeled away, up to sick bay for tests to see how badly injured she was. While she looked fine to Susan, but there was always the possibility of internal injuries.

Susan watched the departing stretcher with amazement, wondering how the Psi-Cop had come to the conclusion that she had shot Kiel, assuming of course that Kiel was the powerful telepath who had assaulted her on the Enlightener's bridge. Then it came to her: Sarah didn't suspect she was a telepath. When the Psi-Cop regained consciousness and learned Kiel was dead, she had automatically assumed that Susan must have shot him, knowing that there was no way a normal could defeat a telepath.

That made Susan feel a little better, realising that, at least for the moment, no-one suspected her abilities. She knew it wouldn't remain that way, and unless she kept away from all other telepaths for the rest of her life she would eventually be found out, just like her mother had been. Sadness welled up in her as she remembered the day her mother's abilities had finally been discovered by the Psi-Corps, and the horror as the black uniformed Psi-Cops had shown up at their house. It was a nightmare that plagued her for many years and although she had only been a child when it had happened, every detail still remained etched strongly in her mind.

She wiped away the single tear that traced its way down her cheek and pushed those thoughts deep down inside where they could stay until she was alone in her quarters. This was meant to be a time of celebration, a time to revel in the elation's of victory, although looking at the stream of wounded being carried into the lifts, she didn't feel that victorious. Too many had died for that. It was a victory, but one built on the sacrifice of some of Earthforce's finest soldiers. Somewhere, floating alone in the blackness of space, were thousands of bodies, men and woman who would never again feel the warm light of Earth's sun on their faces.

As she waited for the lift to arrive, Susan contemplated what would happen to her now. She couldn't imagine that Earthdome would blame her for the destruction of the three destroyers, despite the fact she had been in command at the time. The victory the fleet had won here today was too great for recriminations. There was no doubt that it had been a grand victory, despite what she felt deep down inside. In fact, Earthdome would probably want to proclaim her and all the other survivors as heroes. After the loses taken during the civil war, they probably needed someone's face to put on the recruiting posters.

'Perhaps they will make Kozlowski their hero,' Susan thought, almost chuckling as she imagined the doctor being used to promote Earthforce. Then she stopped as she realised that was the first happy thought she had felt since her telepathic abilities had awoken. While it had only been about half an hour since she had fought Kiel, already Susan wondered if she would ever feel happiness again, especially now that her greatest fear was starting to consume her.

The lift arrived and the doors opened, spewing out another stretcher team. They paused briefly to pass on their congratulations for the victory, before hurrying off towards the transport to collect another of the wounded. As she watched them pass, Susan wondered again how Talia was. She had looked for the blonde telepath among the wounded gathered near the transport, but by the time she had left the cockpit the worst injured, including Talia, had already been taken off to sick bay.

Stepping into the lift, she ordered it up to the command deck and the bridge. Although, more than anything, she wanted to see Talia, Susan knew her duties were just as important right now. She still didn't know how many others had survived the battle, how many of the Rasputin's pilots were dead, and a hundred other details. Although she had put personal feelings ahead of duty a number of times in the past, her uncertainty about everything to do with Talia forced her into putting her responsibilities first this time.

As the lift carried her up towards the command deck, Susan put aside her feelings for Talia, and her worry about the telepath's condition. Right now, she could think of nothing she would like to do than bury her head in her pillow and try to block out the constant noise in her head. She was exhausted, both emotionally and physically, but she still dragged herself off the lift and towards the bridge. Rest would come later when the Rasputin was safely back in orbit around Proxima III and the injured tucked up in sick bay. Until then, she had to bear her own, less visible injuries privately, hiding them away until she was alone and had time to deal with what had happened to her.

* * *

Commander Gregor Petrov rubbed his hands across his face, trying to wipe away the tiredness that was beginning to grip him. Both he and the Captain had been bombarded with problems since her triumphant return from the enemy warship. He looked up at Ivanova, who was sitting at the command station, noticing that she was still talking with Admiral Mellor, who had called from Earthdome nearly twenty minutes ago. Despite the long day they had been through, she still seemed to be going strong, but he remembered how Ivanova had appeared when she had first arrived back on the bridge.

Her face had looked pale and drawn, and it was obvious that she was hiding something terribly painful just below the surface. Then he had learned of the injury to the telepath, Talia Winters, and realised that the Captain must still feel very strongly for her. He had offered to take over while she went to check on Talia's condition, but Ivanova had refused, instead throwing herself into her work, taking command of the disorganised Earthforce fleet again.

He hadn't known much about Ivanova before she came to serve on the Rasputin, but after the past three hours his respect for her had grown enormously. Although obviously troubled by what had happened on the enemy warship, the Captain had quickly organised the scattered Earthforce vessels into a rescue fleet that had scoured the battle site for any survivors. The work seemed to be good for Ivanova too, taking her mind off whatever it was that was troubling her.

Petrov knew she couldn't continue like this for much longer though. The battle may have only taken just over two hours, but in that time everyone had been through a lot, himself included. He could still feel a stinging pain in his left arm every time he tried to move it, despite the painkillers injected by the medical team. He knew he had to be a lot better than Ivanova, though. Her shoulders seemed to slump wearily every time she finished a call, and since she had returned there had been an almost constant barrage of callers. It seemed as though everyone in the entire system wanted to talk with her and, as Admiral Mellor signed off, Petrov decided to put and end to it.

The Captain, more than anyone on board, needed rest. It seemed like everyone on the bridge was drawing their strength from her. She, on the other hand, had no-one to look to for support, and that fact was obviously putting a tremendous strain on her. Gesturing for someone else to take his place, he headed towards the stairs that led up to the command station.

* * *

"Captain," the voice of Commander Petrov called out to her as she closed down the link from Earthdome. Already there were another six messages awaiting her attention, all marked urgent.

"What is it, Commander," Susan asked wearily, turning around to look at him.

Petrov hurried up the stairs and over to her side. "I think perhaps it is time you allowed yourself to be relieved, Captain," he told her. "It has been three hours, and I think we can take care of things here without your help for a while. You need some rest. There is not a lot you can do now that can not wait until later."

"We all need rest," Susan replied a little testily. "But there is still so much to do. There are still people out there to rescue, and I want to make sure none of the enemy fighters survived the battle."

"And it can all be handled just as well by someone else," Petrov said. "I have just called Lieutenant-Commander Heatley in to relieve me, and I will relieve you. You won't be much use to anyone if you are too tired to stand. After all, if you are tired, you are more likely to make a mistake."

Susan nodded, realising, for the first time, exactly how terribly fatigued she felt. Today had been perhaps the most emotionally exhausting day of her life. It wasn't just the fact that her telepathic abilities had suddenly erupted into full bloom, but also the concerns she had about Talia's condition, and a thousand other things. All the pain she felt suddenly seemed to almost overpower her, and Susan felt the energy that kept her going over the past few hours starting to slip away.

"Very well, Commander," she said, reluctantly vacating the cushioned command chair, and allowing Petrov to take over. "But I want you to promise that you will also get someone to relieve you soon. You have been awake as long as I have today."

"Understood, Captain," Petrov said as he dropped himself down into the chair she had just abandoned. "And you can promise me that you will try and get some sleep, and not worry about anything for a while."

Susan nodded again, promising her X/O she would at least try to get some sleep. At the moment she didn't imagine it would be very hard, in fact she was sure that as soon as her head hit the pillow she would be out like a light. Never before has she been so spent, and it was not just physical exhaustion, this time it was mental fatigue, unlike anything she had ever felt before. There was no pain, no headache or anything like that, just a deep rooted weariness that ran right through her, filling every cell of her body with a lethargy that made it difficult to do anything.

Although every step felt as though she had an iron ball attached to her leg, Susan didn't head towards her quarters straight away, there was someone she wanted to see first. She didn't know what she would find when Talia awoke, and despite her suspicion that nothing could have changed permanently, she had to see for herself. While Petrov assumed command on the bridge, Susan walked down the corridor towards the lifts, intent on not wasting a moment longer before visiting Talia. Even if she was still controlled by the artificial personality, Susan had to know if she was alive.

Behind her Petrov suddenly found himself inundated by calls as ten people at once called for his attention. He choose one at random and found, instead of the expected Earthforce officer, the face of an ISN journalist looked back at him. For a moment he considered calling Susan back, but that thought quickly passed. Even if she had been at full strength she had already expressed her desire to have nothing to do with journalists, so Petrov straightened his uniform and brushed his free hand through his untidy hair.

He hadn't joined Earthforce to be in the spotlight, but if the Captain didn't want it, he wasn't going to say no. After checking to make sure he looked at least presentable, he turned back to the screen. "Can I help you?" he asked in a pleasant voice. Already he could imagine his mothers joy when her only son appeared on ISN. He hadn't done a lot in his career so far that had achieved much notice, but as the first Earthforce spokesman following such a great victory he was assured to be seen on every vid screen from here to Babylon 5.

* * *

Susan tossed and turned in her bed, unable to sleep, despite the incredible fatigue she felt. So far, in more than seven hours of trying, all she had managed was two or three short naps. They had been brief respites before the same nightmare drove her awake, and she found herself unable to stop from screaming out in fear. She was grateful that the quarters on the Rasputin were soundproofed so no-one else could hear her suffering, not that she didn't want it to end, just that she could not face seeming weak to others.

All her life she had tried to be strong, to face down her fears and pain quietly and alone, but here in her darkened bedroom there was no escape to be found. Ever since her mother had taken her own life, Susan had lived in constant fear of what would happen to her if Psi-Corps ever found out about her abilities. Through most of her life her telepathic powers had only been weak, little more than a P1. Since yesterday though, and the terrible battle of minds with the former Psi-Cop on the Enlightener, her true ability had finally manifested itself and Susan found herself living in fear of not only discovery, but also what she had become.

She had tried to see Talia earlier, but the doctors were still operating to try and save her life. Even if they had spoken, Susan dreaded the Talia that she would have found. The few scattered and weak thoughts she was picking up from Talia's mind felt cold, distant, and certainly had none of the warmth she expected to find if it was really her Talia that lived within the body that lay half dead on the operating table.

Feeling tired, sick, and frightened, Susan lay shivering on her bed, her mind slipping back into the past, and remembering what had caused the nightmares. In her entire life she had only willingly allowed two telepaths to see into her mind: her mother, and then, much later, Talia. Both woman had been an incredible influence on her by defining love and conditioning her ability to love. Her mother had shown her how to hide her talent, while Talia had shown her how wonderful her powers could be.

She still remembered vividly the first and only time Talia had entered her mind, that wonderful one night that seemed so long ago now. Then her abilities had only been latent, but even so, the experience had been so incredible that it had effected her ever since. As their bodies had joined so had their minds, Susan unable to keep out Talia's thoughts of love. At first there had been surprise on Talia's part, but after that had passed what had followed was an experience so intense that every love she had ever felt, before or since, had paled into insignificance.

Only when she had been a child, and had scanned her own mother, had she felt similar feelings and seen her own love reflected back at her in another's mind. After Talia had left she had lived in fear of Talia's artificial personality telling Psi-Corps about her, but somehow, amazingly, that had not occurred. Eventually she had recovered, and although the loss of Talia had haunted her for years, she had eventually lost the fear. Now it was returning again, for all new reasons.

Down in sick bay, fighting for her life was both her greatest love, and her greatest fear. If, by some miracle Talia recovered and was restored to her old self, Susan would regain the best companion and most wonderful lover she had ever had. If, however, Talia recovered, but the implanted personality was still in control, she faced her greatest fear. She knew the moment Talia touched her, or even came near her, she could be discovered. If that happened, she knew without doubt that the artificial personality, totally loyal to Psi-Corps, would immediately report her. She didn't even want to consider the other possibility, what would happen if Talia didn't recover.

This then was the nightmare that kept her awake, the knowledge that unless the impossible happened and her Talia somehow awoke, she was doomed to either lose her life to Psi-Corps, or lose the life of the only real lover she had ever known. This, and the new experience of trying live with a constant babble of noise in her head, was why her sleep had been so troubled. Now, no matter what she tried, she was unable to sleep, and the more she tried the worse the nightmares had become.

The half-empty bottle of vodka sitting near her bed was testament to an attempt to drink herself into a stupor, but after half a bottle she still hadn't been able to drift away into slumber. So she had left the rest in the bottle and dropped back into bed, now nauseous as well as tired. Shortly after that she had even briefly considered suicide, the blissful release of a PPG shot to the head almost welcome when compared to the torture she had to endure.

Her pistol had been safely locked away though, and the thought had quickly passed as she had dropped into a short drunken doze. Now, four hours later, she found herself staring in the direction of the bottle once more, hoping that something could extinguish the pain she was feeling.

She glanced over at the chronometer. It was a little after four, which meant that she had now been lying here for eight hours, having slept less than one. Sighing, she went back to watching the darkened ceiling for another half an hour before finally dragging herself out of bed and staring blankly at the wall mounted vid screen instead. She considered actually switching it on and watching one of the local networks, anything to take her mind off the worrying, but quickly decided that wouldn't help.

In fact, right now there was only one thing that would put her mind at ease, and that was to see Talia. She had to know now the results of the doctor's surgery, she had to know if Talia was still alive. Despite the weariness that seemed to effect every part of her body, she pulled herself up upright and opening the doors into the lounge room, where she had left yesterday's uniform. She probably should find a fresh uniform, but at the moment Susan didn't think she had the strength to open the wardrobe in her bedroom. Instead, she pulled off her nightgown and tossed in the general direction of her bed before reaching down to pick up her uniform. Dressing was a difficult process, but she eventually managed to complete the task.

Fully dressed now, Susan walked back into the bedroom, ignoring the crumpled sheets and reaching down to pick up her link from the small bedside table. Her hand hovered for a moment over the small sliver of metal and electronics before changing her mind and drawing away. She decided that if there was anything important, Petrov, or whoever was in charge up on the bridge right now, would have to send someone to look for her. Then, as she turned to leave, a sparkle caught her eye and held it for a brief second. There on the bedside table, lying almost hidden beneath her nightgown, were the two data crystals she had left out so many nights ago.

One was the information Dr. Kozlowski had sent her, while the other was a Vorlon data crystal, a copy of the thoughts Ambassador Kosh had recorded from Talia's mind. When she had last looked at them she had been only a latent telepath, now her powers were considerably stronger. Exactly how strong she didn't know but perhaps now was the right time to find out. Forgetting about her other problems for now, Susan sat down on the bed and slipped the first of the crystals back into the reader.

* * *

The sick bay was now quiet. Those with minor injuries had been patched up and sent back to their quarters, while the more serious cases were now resting comfortably in the small wards off the main operations area. Outside, things were certainly not as quiet, the sick bay having the unfortunate luck of being located close to the main recreation room, where some of the crew were still celebrating the victory.

Susan could have put a stop to it, but didn't want to deny the crew their celebrations. Yesterday, most of them had gone into battle not knowing if they were going to live and die, and the elation that came with survival was certainly worth celebrating, even if only for one night. Of course, there were strict regulations about being drunk on duty, but considering her own condition, Susan decided not to press the issue.

The newly appointed chief medical officer, Goran Habbib, was the only one of duty when Susan arrived. He was sitting quietly in a chair just inside sick bay, his feet resting on a nearby table. The doctor appeared to be going over the latest reports on the condition of those wounded still in sick bay. He looked up as Susan entered, and a nervous twitch briefly affected his face. "Can I help you, Captain," he asked after he jumped to his feet and saluted her.

Susan glanced around the room, checking to see who else might be around. "Where is everyone else," she asked after her quick search failed to locate any of the other medical personal.

"I gave them the rest of the night off," the doctor replied nervously. "That is all right, isn't it. I mean they were tired, and I thought they could do with a short rest, especially considering that the automatic monitoring systems can probably take just as good care of the wounded now. That is all right isn't it, Captain?"

"Fine doctor," Susan replied, holding up a hand to stop him talking. "I am not here to check up on your progress, just to see one patient. Where is Ms. Winters?"

"Oh," Habbib replied, a little relieved that Susan wasn't here for the report he had promised Commander Petrov, especially considering he hadn't even started working on it. "Follow me then, Captain." He led Susan across sick bay, past the operation room and into one of the smaller rooms that were set aside for those too injured to return to their own quarters. "Actually, she is one of the only patients we have left. The rest insisted on being allowed out to join their companions, and as they were no longer in danger and will probably survive the festivities, I didn't see any reason to keep them here."

Susan nodded, and then as soon as Habbib had pointed out the room where Talia was she put a hand across his chest, stopping him. "I would like to be alone with her, Doctor," she ordered. "Make sure no-one disturbs me."

Habbib nodded, and after another pointed look from Susan, hurried back to his chair to his work. He didn't know why the Captain would want to be alone with the telepath, but he certainly wasn't going to argue. Instead he went quietly back to his report, wanting to finish it before the second shift came on duty.

Susan didn't notice him leaving, instead her attention was on the room in front of her. She didn't know what she would find, but wanted to believe that Talia was still all right. She pressed the door control and it slid open, revealing a small room, with four beds. At the moment only one was occupied, and after closing the door behind her, Susan quickly crossed to Talia's side.

The blonde telepath lay almost deathly still on the bed, only the gentle rise and fall of her chest giving any sign she was alive. She was pale, and much of one bare shoulder was covered by a bandage, and almost certainly beneath that, a skin regeneration pad. Susan brushed her hand across Talia's face, and the other woman stirred in her sleep, letting out a soft moan as Susan's hand touched the naked skin of her cheek. Susan pulled back, suddenly remembering that physical contact increased telepathic connection, and the last thing she wanted right now was for Talia to wake up.

She looked up from Talia for a moment and, spotting the small table nearby, pulled out the portable data crystal reader. Then, after plugging it into the wall mounted screen, she placed it carefully on the table. She then dug around in the same pocket for the data crystal, holding it in her hands for several, long seconds before finally inserting it into the reader. She was still debating if this was the right thing to do or not. It was a painful choice, knowing that if she went ahead with this, Talia could be lost to her forever. Of course if she didn't, then it was just as likely that she would never see the real Talia ever again either.

Kneeling down next to the bed Susan closed her eyes and whispering a quick, heartfelt prayer before taking both of Talia's hands in hers and lowering the walls she had erected in her mind. At once the voices in her head increased in volume and number as she began to pick up on the thoughts of the Rasputin's crew. For a moment she was lost in a jumble of conflicting voices and emotions before she finally began to sought through them, searching for the only voice that mattered to her.

Finally she found it, the cold thoughts of the artificial personality inhabiting Talia's body, dreaming equally cold dreams. Shivering slightly as she thought again about what she was about to do, Susan almost stopped right there, but she couldn't leave Talia this way, not when there was a chance to undo what had been done, so instead she pressed on. At once she felt pain begin to build in her mind as she encountered a powerful block erected inside Talia's mind. It was like suddenly hitting a wall of iron while running flat out, and Susan's probe was nearly ejected from Talia's mind by the impact.

Closing her eyes tightly and pushing with all the power of her mind, Susan felt the wall begin to falter, but not fall. Then she noticed what looked like a miniature door that had been left open just a crack. In Susan's mind it looked like a tiny speck of light in a wall of darkness. Drawing her thoughts back for a second, Susan breathed deeply, summoning all her strength and then she pushed into Talia's mind once more, concentrating all her strength on that one tiny spot.

She shuddered as pain ripped through her, more pain than she had ever felt before. For a second she almost lost consciousness, but then it was gone and she stood in a narrow corridor, the only light coming from a distant source high above. She sudden realised that she had been here before, in a dream, a dream that now seemed more real than she had previously imagined. Hearing the distant sound of someone chanting a rhyme over and over, Susan hurried in that direction.

Outside the realm of their minds, Talia's eyes flickered open, and then narrowed as she noticed Susan kneeling beside the bed and felt the unwanted telepathic contact in her brain. The artificial personality suddenly realised what Susan was capable of, and also what she was attempting to do, and there was no way she was going to let herself be removed that easily. Although she was too weak to push Susan away physically, mentally she was far more powerful.

Inside Talia's mind Susan was running as fast as she could, trying to reach that tiny part of Talia's subconscious that was still her. Nearly there, the corridor suddenly vanished and she was caught in a beam of immobilising light that held her imprisoned, unable to escape or proceed further. She tried to move her physical body, but found it was also imprisoned, gripped by a powerful telekinetic force. Then a voice called for her attention.

"You must have been more desperate that even I could have imagined," Talia's voice said. From the shadows of her mind the artificial personality stepped into the light, appearing to Susan's mind as a black uniformed Psi-Cop, the symbol of Psi-Corps glowing like a star on her lapel. "It is pathetic you know, all the years you have wasted hiding away your talent, and now throwing away your life like this."

"I am not dead yet," Susan snarled, finding that although her body had been disabled her voice hadn't.

The evil version of Talia smiled. "I could kill you right now," she said calmly, while at the same time reaching out with her telepathic abilities and gripping Susan's throat. She squeezed tightly for a few seconds, until Susan's face began to twist in pain, then she released her. "You see, I could squeeze the life from you and no-one could help you. I won't just yet though, first I want to see why you want her back so much."

"You wouldn't understand," Susan said, her voice raspy. "You can't understand the love we had, what we shared with each other."

Talia raised an eyebrow. "Love?" she asked. "I have all her memories, but I don't recall anything more than a close friendship... unless..." she paused and her features twisted in anger. "Of course, that bitch hid it away from me. That is how she managed to remain alive so long."

Susan wondered what the implanted personality was talking about, but she was too concerned with trying to free herself to listen to Talia's ranting. Her arms and legs were held tightly in Talia's telekinetic powers and she was unable to move, but she could move her head, and fortunately that was all she would need. "Computer, play," she said weakly. Sitting on the table next to the bed the portable data reader switched on and began to feed the thoughts captured on the data crystal onto the screen above the bed.

The evil creature that wore Talia's face spun around as soon as Susan spoke, looking at her in sudden shock. Like a conductive wire Susan's mind was receiving the thoughts from the screen and sending them directly into Talia's brain. In her mind they appeared as a ghostly white shapes that burst from her body and flew around the room before plunging straight towards Talia.

The image of Talia screamed once and then vanished in a flash of brilliant pain that threw Susan's mind clear, tumbling back into her own body. Finding she could move again she opened her eyes and looked up at Talia, hoping to see some reaction, some change. Her mind was still sending the fears collected on the data crystal into Talia's brain and she could see the effect they were having. Talia's body was twisting in pain, almost as if she were caught in a horrible nightmare, which of course she now was. For a second Susan almost stopped sending the images, frightened of hurting Talia, but she forced herself to press on, knowing this was the only way.

Finally, the data crystal ended and Talia fell still. _'Talia?'_ Susan sent, hoping like anything that somehow she had survived. Steeling herself against what she might find, Susan began to probe Talia's thoughts once more, seeking any sign of life. This time there was no blocks anywhere, and although Talia's mind still appeared dark and cold, it was quiet, the artificial personality stunned into a deep coma, disabled by the fears it had been forced to confront.

Then, deep inside Talia's mind, she found what she was looking for, the tiny hiding place where a small part of Talia's real personality had survived. Like before, Talia sat cross-legged in the darkened chamber, a blanket pulled up tightly around her, as if to shut out everything from the outside. Susan knelt beside her, gently pulling the blanket away. So weak that she could barely move, Talia looked up at her.

"Susan..." she said in amazement, before turning away and shaking her head. "No it can't be you, you're dead."

Susan took Talia's hands in hers, mimicking what she had done earlier in the physical world. _"No, I am not dead,"_ she said, hoping that the simulated physical contact would be enough to convince Talia. _"I'm alive, here with you right now. I want you to wake up, to get better."_

"That wasn't a dream, was it," Talia said suddenly. "I thought it was a dream, just like all the others she has sent me, trying to break me so she can kill me."

 _"It wasn't a dream,"_ Susan told her. _"I thought it was for a while as well, but then I realised that it had to be true."_

Talia looked up at the ceiling. "She is asleep, but she will soon awaken again."

Susan nodded. _"That is why you must come with me now. You have to destroy her now, while she is asleep."_

Talia shook her head, looking despondently down at the floor. "I am not strong enough, Susan," she tried to explain. "I have never been strong enough, that is why they could do this to me so easily. It I had been stronger, I would have survived. All my life I have been weak, have always given in to those who sought to harm me. I was never strong like you."

 _"Together we might be strong enough,"_ Susan implored her desperately. She had tried so hard to get to this point, and she didn't want to fail when she was so close. _"Tell me what I need to do and I will do it."_

Understanding suddenly dawned on Talia's face. "You are strong enough, aren't you," she said in surprise. "You have managed to put her to sleep haven't you. How is that possible Susan?"

 _"I don't know,"_ Susan admitted. _"All I know is my telepathic abilities have grown more powerful, perhaps even enough to undo what Psi-Corps has done to you."_

For the first time another emotion made its way on to Talia's face, hope. She stood and took Susan's hand. "But am I strong enough, though?" she asked. "This is my fight, not yours. I have to face down my fears and somehow find the strength to free myself. I have to know that you want me back."

 _"I want you back more than anything else in the world,"_ Susan told her in a voice that was strained with emotion. _"I would give up everything, my command, my life, everything... just to have you with me again."_

Talia smiled for the first time in over two years. "Then I will try, Susan." She looked around at the dark chamber she was trapped in. "After all, what do I have to lose."

 _"What can I do?"_ Susan asked.

Talia raised a weak hand to Susan's face. "Just think of me. Call out with all your strength, and concentrate all your thoughts on me, on your memories of me. If I am strong enough, that should be all that is needed. Go now, this I have to do myself. I have to find the strength to overcome what they did to me. Just think of me and if I am strong enough, I will hear your call. You have opened a doorway, all I have to do is be strong enough to step through it."

Reluctantly Susan nodded, but could not bring herself to pulled her hands free from Talia's. Eventually, she realised that Talia was right, and this was a fight she had to go through alone. Giving Talia's hands a final supportive squeeze, she released them and pulled her thoughts back into her own mind, opening her eyes once more.

On the bed beside her, Talia twitched in her sleep, and a look of pain began to appear on her face. Remembering Talia's instructions, Susan tried to remember all the good times they had spent together. There were actually very few, they had only really just started to know each other when Talia was snatched away. However, those few thoughts there were had remained riveted in her memory, small spikes of happiness in an otherwise painful existence. Climbing up onto the bed with Talia, Susan slipped her arms around the other woman's body, trying to comfort her, while at the same time calling out for Talia will all her strength.

At first there was no response, no change in the ocean of icy darkness that was Talia's mind. Then a tiny light appeared on the horizon of Talia's thoughts, a sudden dawn over a sea of night. That tiny spark quickly spread, a wave of pale light that washed away the darkness, like it was medicine cleansing Talia's mind of a debilitating infection. Then the darkness fought back, beginning to dim the light once more. Susan concentrated even harder, sending her memories and love into Talia's mind with all the intensity her new found telepathic powers could muster.

Talia heard her and, with one final effort, pushed at the last remnants of the implanted personality. In her own mind she could see the damage the Psi-Corps researchers had caused with the experiments that spawned and grafted the artificial personality inside her subconscious. But she could also see her own powers, and the gift that Ironheart had given her, the gift that had enabled her to survive this long. It was more than just her increased telekinetic powers, it was also a strength of purpose that she had never possessed before, a strength that she now drew on for the first time.

With a renewed determination, Talia concentrated on the single thing that had kept her personality alive this long, the memory of Susan and what they had shared together. Her path laid out before her, she gathered all the strength her tired mind could muster and punched through the final blocks Psi-Corps had placed in her mind. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes of its own destruction, her mind broke free of the shackles that had been placed around it and for the first time in two and a half years she opened her eyes.

Susan felt the sudden burst of telepathic power inside Talia's mind and felt the coldness washing away, replaced by a soft warmth that filled her mind, and left behind a feeling of comfort. Opening her eyes she stared into Talia's newly opened blue orbs with a searching gaze. There she saw her own longing and love reflected back at her, and knew without doubt that Talia was back, herself once more. She felt tears beginning to form in her eyes, unable to do anything right now but sob out her joy.

Talia raised a trembling hand to Susan's face and gently wiped away the gathering tears. "Susan..." she said softly, before her eyes fluttered closed again and she settled down into Susan's embrace.

For a second Susan though something terrible had happened, and Talia was drifting away from her again. A quick scan of Talia's mind soon calmed her fears, Talia was only sleeping, exhausted by what she had been through. The calmness that slumber bought to Talia's mind, reminded Susan of her own need for sleep. She shook that off though, urging herself to stay awake, to watch over Talia while she slept, to ensure nothing happened to reverse the impossible miracle that had just occurred.

Her mind could not control her body though, and, despite her efforts to keep her eyes open, Susan let sleep overcome her and her head dropped down to nestle against Talia's shoulder. As consciousness slipped away she was enveloped by a feeling of total and utter calm, as if all the hurts and fears of the previous three years were just washed away, even if only for a little while. Next to her Talia rolled over in her sleep and unconsciously snuggled closer to Susan, their bodies touching for the first time in more than two years.

That was not all that touched either. Their minds also joined, not the intense, erotic touch of lovers, but the gentle touch of two dreamers. As their slumber became deeper, more calm, in their dreams they came together and shared each others most intimate thoughts. When they awoke the next day each would remember nothing more than a beautiful, peaceful dream, which just happened to feature the other. But in the few rare times when two telepaths dreamed together it was never quite so simple. In these dreams telepaths shared more than just their thoughts, they also shared their souls, and when they awoke, neither was ever the same again.

* * *


	32. Chapter 32

* * *

Lieutenant Harry Shaw glanced back to make sure the Psi-Cop was still following. He shivered slightly, as the short telepath just stared back at him, seeming to look into his very soul. He wondered what stroke of bad luck had led to him being on duty in the shuttle bay at the exact time that the Psi-Cop's shuttle had chosen to appear. There were a hundred other things he would have preferred to be doing right now, but it seemed that God was not smiling on him tonight.

"We're here," he told the telepath, relieved that at last he had reached the sick bay. "Is there anything else you want?"

 _'Wait here,'_ Bester sent telepathically. _'I may have need for you yet.'_

The fair-haired lieutenant nodded and leaned against the wall opposite the doors leading into medical section. Actually, there was nothing he would have liked more than to be back in the shuttle bay again... anywhere but here with the Psi-Cop searching through his mind.

Bester smiled as he turned away and walked through the doors into the room beyond. The lieutenant's apprehension was a strangely refreshing feeling, to know that without doing anything he could inspire fear in mundanes. He had other more important things to do right now though, foremost among them finding his missing assistant, who had not been there to greet him when his shuttle had arrived. Lieutenant Shaw said that she had been taken to sick bay, but looking around the empty room he didn't see anyone at all.

He reached out with his mind and felt the presence of minds down a side corridor. He walked in that direction, looking around or any signs of a doctor or nurse who could tell him something. He could have just used his abilities to find her, but he didn't know how badly injured she was. While a telepathic scan would rarely cause any serious injury, unless the subject resisted, an injured mind could be damaged further by unwanted contact. He certainly didn't want to harm the best assistant he had been graced with for many years.

Detecting thoughts from behind one door he opened it, his eyes opening wide in confusion. There, curled up next to each other were Talia Winters, and, to his amazement, Ivanova. He hadn't imagined that Ivanova would ever forget what had happened back on Babylon 5. Shaking his head in amazement he moved to investigate further, but was distracted by another mind coming towards him, a mind that was broadcasting a strong amount of annoyance.

"Can I help you," the tall, olive-skinned doctor asked testily as he walked up to Bester. He reminded the Psi-Cop of an old teacher who had caught him loitering where he most definitely should not have been. Unlike that old teacher though, there was nothing the doctor could do to him if he refused to leave.

Bester smiled coldly at him. "I am looking for Sarah Chang," he replied, after searching the doctor's mind, and learning that he was the chief medical officer. He decided it best not to cause a fuss, especially with Ivanova sleeping in the same room. If she woke up, he didn't doubt that she would not be pleased to see him, and he'd always had a sneaking suspicion that she would like nothing more than to see him dead.

"She was relea..." Habbib started to reply.

"Thank you," Bester cut him off, already having picked the information he wanted out of the doctors mind. Leaving Ivanova and Talia, and the over protective doctor, behind for now, he walked away. He still had to learn what had happened to Kiel and Anderson, and to discover that knowledge, Chang was the most likely candidate.

Behind him Habbib's eyes narrowed in anger at the way the Psi-Cop had searched his mind, with absolutely no regard for the Psi-Corps rules about such things. He didn't want to cause any trouble though, so he was content to just watch the Psi-cop closely until he left the medical bay. He could have reported Bester for the illegal scan, but knew that would get him nowhere, especially against a Psi-Cop.

As soon as Bester was gone Habbib glanced into the room behind him, pausing for a second before closing the door and walking away. He had thought for a moment about waking the Captain and asking her to leave so Ms. Winters could sleep. But after checking the monitors he realised that the injured telepath was already sleeping comfortably, and her condition appeared a lot better than before. So he decided to leave the two women alone, and go back to his work. Besides, he was always of the opinion that it was best to let a sleeping tiger rest, that way he kept his head.

* * *

Sarah Chang pushed her eyes open and stared at the door leading into her room, wondering who could be calling at this time of the night. She glanced down at time on the vid screen, and noticed that it was no longer night. In fact, she had been asleep for nearly eleven hours, a testament to exactly how tired the confrontation with Kiel had left her.

The offending door chime rang again, and this time she also felt a thought pushing its way into her mind. _'Ms. Chang,'_ Bester's thoughts called. _'Please open the door. It is cold out here, and the company isn't very pleasant.'_

She quickly jumped out of bed, calling out, "just a minute." She grabbed a robe that was slung over a nearby chair and pulled it on. Despite the fog in her mind, she had enough presence of mind not to appear half dressed to her superior. Drawing the robe tightly around her she said calmly, "Enter."

The door heard her command and slid open, admitting the dark clad form of Bester, who walked briskly into the room. _'How are you feeling,'_ he asked telepathically. _'I was a little worried when I heard you had been injured.'_

"I am fine now," Sarah replied, preferring to speak out loud instead of straining her tired mind. Outside her room a young man in a lieutenant's uniform was visible for a second, before the door slid shut. She imagined he must be a crew member drafted into serving Bester, the badge did have a way of convincing people. Despite the Lieutenant's handsome features he occupied her thoughts for only a moment, before she turned her attention back to Bester. "I was just exhausted that was all," she explained.

"I am pleased to hear that," Bester said as he sat down in the one chair that didn't have her clothes scattered all over it. "Now, perhaps you can tell me exactly what happened, starting with how you ended up so exhausted."

"Kiel was stronger than I imagined," Sarah told him, a little annoyed at having to admit that. "I couldn't keep him out of my mind."

Bester nodded, realising that the former Psi-Cop was a powerful telepath indeed. "I didn't intend on you facing him alone like that," he said. "All I wanted you to do was find him and then I would take care of him personally."

"Things happened a little quickly, Sir," she said apologetically. "I didn't intend on facing him either."

He paused and looked at her for a second, searching her face. "What happened to him?" he asked. He had already been fully briefed by Earthforce on the attack, but needed to know what had happened to Kiel. Bester had to know if he was dead, that he would never again threaten him, or those he loved.

Sarah shrugged. "I am not entirely sure," she replied. "I think Ivanova might have shot him while he was trying to kill me. I faintly remember her just arriving as I lost unconsciousness, and then Kiel's thoughts vanished from my mind. After that though, I lost consciousness so what happened next I don't really know."

Bester looked a little surprised at that news, and then a smile spread across his face. "I wonder what Ivanova will think when she realised what she has done," he said in an amused tone.

"What do you mean, Sir?" Sarah asked, confused about what he meant.

"Kiel's death has had caused considerable changes within Psi-Corps," Bester informed her. "Especially the way he died." Seeing Sarah still didn't understand, he continued his explanation. "There were many within Psi-Corps, mostly opponents of mine, who were supportive of Kiel. This madness he attempted has sent a shockwave running through the Corps, and those who supported him have lost considerable power." Bester paused and smiled. "I will leave it up to you to guess who has gained power out of this."

Sarah raised an eyebrow. "You?" she asked, wondering why she wasn't surprised. If anyone could gain anything out of this chaos it would be Bester, he thrived on situations like this. After all, he had gone from a simple Psi-Cop to one of the Corps important powers, all in the space of less than four years.

Bester nodded. "That's right, Ms. Chang. With Kiel's former allies disgraced, I will be able to move allies of my own into positions of power within the Corps. If you remain as my assistant you could rise far. Your service to the corps has been exemplary in this matter."

"The corps is mother, the corps is father," Sarah replied a little smugly. "I live to serve."

"Of course," Bester replied. "And your service has been better that I could ever imagined. In fact, I think you deserve some sort of reward."

"Reward, Sir," Sarah asked in surprise. She certainly hadn't expected that.

Bester nodded sagely, picking up on the sudden elation within his assistant's mind. "I have booked you a room at the best hotel in Reagan Dome, where we can discuss your reward. We can leave as soon as you are packed, unless you want to stay on this cramped warship of course."

"No, Sir," Sarah replied happily. The last thing she wanted to do was spent another night of the Rasputin, especially when no-one here appreciated her. The idea of spending a few nights in a luxury hotel was something she wasn't about to pass up.

"I didn't think so," Bester said with a knowing smile. "Get packed, I will meet you down in the shuttle bay."

Sarah nodded and, as soon as her boss had left the room, started laughing. She couldn't believe how well this had all turned out for her. A little over a year ago she was fresh out of training, just one of twenty two new Psi-Cops from her year. Now she was rising through the Psi-Corps ranks at an amazing rate, while the rest of her class were still probably assigned to one of the bloodhound units, or even worse jobs. With a little luck she could remain as Bester's assistant while he climbed to new heights of power, taking her with him.

She paused in her packing, thinking back to who was really responsible for her success. It was terribly ironic that it was Ivanova, someone who hated telepaths so much, had done the most to boost her career. If it hadn't been for Ivanova killing Kiel, and consequently ending his plans for the Earth Alliance, she would not have been in the position she was now. As she walked out of the door, Sarah made a mental note to thank Ivanova sometime, even if just to see the look on the Captain's face.

Right now though, she had other thoughts on her mind, specifically the long, steaming hot bath she intended to treat herself to once she was safely ensconced in the hotel. She might not have really earned this sort of treatment, but she intended to make the most of it while it lasted. Quickly finishing her packing, she turned off the lights in her room and left, heading for the shuttle bay and the short trip to Proxima III.

* * *

**20:25 February 27, 2262.**

Susan struggled to change from her standard blue uniform jacket, to the greyish-blue ceremonial one, while at the same time trying to balance two data pads in her other hand. Finally managing it, without dropping the reports, she zipped the jacket up and, after tucking the data pads under her arm, hurried off down the corridor towards the Rasputin's conference room.

At the end of the corridor Commander Petrov was waiting for her, as tall and straight as always, and for a brief second Susan wondered what was happening to her. It used to be that she was always on time, always properly dressed and ready for anything. Perhaps it was worry, after all, Talia was still suffering from a dangerous PPG wound, and although her mind had recovered her body still had to fully heal. Also Susan wasn't sure if Talia really wanted her back. They had spent so little time together before Talia was taken away from her, and although, Susan could never forget what she had shared that night with Talia, she wasn't sure Talia felt the same way. For all she knew she might have just been another fling to Talia.

Then, there were her increased telepathic abilities. Ever since she was eight she had known about her abilities, only for most of her life she had hidden them, denied they even existed. Now, for some unknown reason, they had manifested themselves fully, and although she had to admit that without her powers she would never had survived the battle with Kiel, or bought Talia back, she still couldn't face the fact that she was now a telepath.

Every minute of the day she had to concentrate to block out the thoughts of others, or she would find herself overwhelmed by the cacophony of competing voices. Not that she hadn't tried to control her powers, but nothing she seemed to do had helped, and she fell asleep each night with a throbbing headache. Susan had tried to talk to Talia about it, and, although she was still tired by her ordeal, Talia had tried to help her. What had happened then though had left Susan feeling even more concerned.

Susan had tried communicating telepathically with Talia, sending her thoughts into the other woman's mind instead of speaking out loud. All that had done though was leave Talia with a splitting headache from the strength of those thoughts. Talia had tried to comfort her, tell her it was just a matter learning discipline, of learning to send her thoughts more softly, but Susan hadn't been so sure. In fact, so concerned was she, that she had refused to try again, no matter how much Talia had tried to convince her.

Now, five days after the battle, and four nights after Talia had been freed from the artificial personality that had held her mind prisoner, Susan had new problems. Just two hours ago, Admiral Mellor, the current head of Earthforce colonial defence, and her direct superior, had arrived. Susan had no doubt he was here to review the whole matter of the enemy attack on Proxima III, and what had occurred during the battle. She was fairly certain that he wasn't here to fix blame for the losses which, considering the overwhelming odds they'd faced, were not unexpected. But she couldn't help but wonder exactly why he was here. Officers of his rank rarely just turned up out of the blue, they usually arrived with all the fanfare Earthforce could muster.

"Ready, Captain," Petrov asked her with a hint of a grin on his face.

"As ready as I will ever be, Commander," she replied sourly. Susan almost felt envious of the way he could seemed to be calm no matter the crisis. There was a time when she also used to be that way, cold and unfeeling now that she thought back on those days. Now, her days were consumed with constant worry about what would happen if her telepathic powers were discovered, and her nights with other people's dreams.

"Uh huh," he said, looking pointedly at her Earthforce insignia.

Susan quickly glanced down, noticing at once that the badge was skewed to one side. She quickly straightened it, and checked the rest of her uniform to make sure everything was in place. It wouldn't do to appear before the admiral looking like she had just climbed out of bed, despite the fact that is exactly what she had done. It had been the first time in days she had been to bed early, having spent the past four nights watching over Talia as she recovered.

A few hours ago, Talia had finally been released from the sick bay, back to her guest quarters on the command deck, and doctor Habbib had sent Susan to bed early as well, ordering her to get a proper nights rest or he would have her confined to quarters. Finally she had given in, but as luck would have it, her head had no sooner hit the pillows when her linked beeped. It had been one of the bridge crew announcing that the Admiral was here and waiting for her in the conference room.

Further thoughts were cut off by the sound of the door hissing open, as Petrov pressed the door control. Waiting in the conference room, Admiral Mellor put down the cup of tea he had been sipping and invited them both to enter. Susan stepped inside and immediately came to attention and salute. "Captain Ivanova reporting, Sir," she said.

"Sit down, Captain," Mellor replied, pointing towards a chair opposite him. Then he looked up at Petrov. "I don't need to see you right now, Commander. Perhaps you would care to return in about half an hour. I would like to have tour of this fine ship before I continue on to Proxima III to meet with President Mitrovic."

"Yes, Sir," Petrov replied, leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

Feeling a little apprehensive, but not knowing quite why, Susan took her seat and placed the two data pads on the table next to her. "Had I been informed of your arrival, I would have had a more suitable welcome party waiting for you, Admiral," Susan said apologetically.

Mellor shook his head. "I wanted this to be an informal meeting, Captain," he said, taking the seat opposite. "I am here now just to bring you up to date on our investigations into the matter of Mr. Kiel."

Susan frowned as she tried to remember the name. "I am not sure I know him," she replied. "I have heard the name, but can't quite place it." Mellor pulled out a data pad and slipped it across the table to her. Susan glanced at it, at once recognising the telepath from the enemy warship. "Was that his name," she said, trying to avoid shuddering in fear at the sight of the man who had caused her so much pain. The echoes of the nightmares he had awakened in her mind still haunted her sleep.

Mellor nodded. "Yes, Harvey Kiel, until the end of Clark's reign a powerful figure inside Psi-Corps. He was responsible for much of what went on under the previous government, and until five days ago was the number one figure on our wanted list. We always knew he was up to something, but we never imagined it would be anything like this."

"Do you know who helped him out yet. I mean this sort of thing cost a lot of money, and in my report..."

Mellor held up a hand to stop Susan continuing. "I know what your report said, Captain. That is part of why I am here." Seeing Susan look of confusion, he continued. "Kiel's actions had the support of some powerful people, and not to mention the companies you have indicated. Unfortunately these powerful allies have made the evidence vanish, and, although you and I might know who was responsible, we can't act without evidence."

"They can't get away with this," Susan said, her voice betraying the anger she felt rising inside her. "They can't just kill thousands of people, destroy and entire colony, and get away with it."

"I had not intended to let them," Mellor said calmly. "But there is little I can do about it, since it's Earthdome that makes the rules. Without evidence we don't have anyway of proving that the companies you mentioned financed the whole thing. So far there has been no proven link."

"What about the bank records I mentioned," Susan asked desperately, not wanting all of her efforts, and the efforts of her crew, to go to waste like this.

Mellor shook his head sadly. "I am afraid they seemed to have vanished as well, Captain, along with the rest of the evidence. We have sent teams to Arisia 3, but they haven't managed to find even as much information as your team recovered. The wreckage in orbit has provided little information, while the planet itself has been swept clean by erupting volcanoes."

"So it has all been for nothing then," Susan said, her voice becoming despondent at the thought of the businessmen who financed the construction of the enemy fleet getting away with no penalty. This certainly wasn't her idea of justice.

"Not entirely," Mellor replied. "I am intending on doing all I can to keep an eye on the companies responsible, ensuring that they never try this again. Although I think the results of the battle you commanded here may convince them, not to mention anyone else who might threaten the Alliance, to look elsewhere."

"I hope you are right, Admiral," Susan replied. "I certainly don't want to go through that again."

Mellor smiled ironically at her comments. "I was going to say that if we had to fight such a battle again, I would want you commanding the fleet. You did a good job, Captain."

"I did what I had to do, Admiral," Susan said modestly, although she couldn't help but feel a little lifted by his comments. "I am sure anyone else would have done the same."

"Perhaps," Mellor replied. "Although I wouldn't say that to Emmerton when you see her. She is still sore over how easily her command was destroyed. That is one battle she won't forget in a hurry."

Susan nodded, remember how Emmerton had been pulled out of the life pod, her left arm covered in burns from the explosion on the Typhoeus' bridge. The Vice-Admiral had been irritable ever since, although she had treated Susan with a lot of respect during the one meeting they had conducted. "She was very lucky to survive," Susan admitted.

"Well, the Joint Chiefs, the President and all of Earthdome are very pleased with your victory. Our strategic analysts have gone over the records from the battle and agree that, without the actions you took, our fleet wouldn't have stood a chance against that ship. You did put the lives of your crew in jeopardy, but it paid off this time, so you are to be commended."

"Thank you, Admiral," Susan said.

"I think it is us who should be thanking you, Captain," Mellor replied. "If you hadn't stopped that ship, then Earth itself might have come under attack." He paused and took a sip of tea. "However, there is always a price to pay, even if you win a war."

"A price?" Susan asked, not exactly sure if she liked the idea of that at all.

"Yes a price," Mellor replied, although it appeared he was having trouble maintaining a straight face. "In your case you are going to have to accompany me to Proxima III to attend the little party Mr. Mitrovic's is holding tomorrow."

"Not another party," Susan said in a pained voice, remembering what had happened last time. "I suppose there will be reporters there as well."

"Probably one from every network in the Alliance, and a few of the alien governments as well," Mellor replied with a grin. "You see what I mean by a price."

Susan groaned. The last thing she wanted right now was to be the centre of attention, especially with her awakened abilities. There was no way she would be able to survive that sort of event, at least not without going totally around the bend. "Do I have to go," she asked the Admiral.

Mellor nodded. "I am afraid the President has insisted that you attend. I even think he wants to give you a medal."

"When is this party," she asked, hoping that it wasn't tonight. She hoped the Admiral was kidding about the medal bit.

Mellor thought for a moment, obviously trying to convert Proxima time to Earth time in his head. "Sixteen hundred hours tomorrow afternoon," he finally replied, before stopping and counting again. "No, wait, make that fourteen hundred. You will be there of course, won't you, Captain?"

"I'll be there," she replied, not at all happy about the situation.

"Good," the Admiral replied. "I didn't want to have to disappoint the President." He looked down at his data pad for a second before continuing. "I think that is all then." he reached over and picked up the two data pads Susan had bought along. "I assume these are the latest reports." When she nodded in confirmation, he continued. "Good, you may as well get some rest then, Captain. After all, you are probably going to need it. I will see you tomorrow afternoon."

Susan stood and saluted again. "Yes, Sir," she replied.

Mellor saluted in return. "You are dismissed, Captain. Send in Commander Petrov as you leave. I still want that tour I mentioned. This ship cost Earthforce a lot of money and I would like to take a look at what we are getting for our money while I have the chance."

"I will send him along at once, Admiral," she replied, making her way towards the door.

As the door opened she was pulled up by the Admiral's voice again. "Oh, one last thing, Captain," he said. "This party of the President's, he wants everyone attending to bring a date, I think he wants to make it into some sort of social event. So invite one of your officers or something like that."

"Yes, Sir," Susan replied. "I have someone in mind already."

"Great. I will see you there then."

Susan nodded and left the conference room. As soon as she had gone, Mellor put down the reports and picked up his cup of tea, slowly sipping it as he turned around to watch the clean up operation on the holographic display in the Rasputin's conference room. This was his first time on board the new pride of the Earthforce fleet, and so far he had been very impressed, not just with the ship and its captain, but with their accomplishments as well.

It hadn't been a easy battle, the wreckage that still floated in space between the planet and the jumpgate attested to that. But the Rasputin, and her captain had performed magnificently, and because it had been he who had selected Ivanova to take command of this vessel, he hadn't done that badly out of the whole affair either. Mellor smiled when he remembered how the other Admirals and Generals, led mainly by Lefcourt, had wanted to ship Ivanova off to some distant posting and forget all about her. Mellor and his supporters, including the man in charge of the Warlock project, Admiral Kiernan, had stuck to their guns though, and she had been giving the posting she had asked for.

Now his choice had been vindicated, and although this victory could never bring back the nine thousand dead at Flinn Colony, it at least bought some justice for their families. Earthdome was very pleased with the outcome, and so were the rest of the command staff, which made him happy as well. To often in the past few years he had been on the outer, pushed aside because of his reluctance to follow Clark's commands. However he had never been as open in his disloyalty as some of the others, fine officers who's only crime was to believe too strongly in their ideals.

He knew though, that not all of Clark's conspirators were ever discovered, and evidence seemed to have found a way of disappearing. There were still others out there who worked behind the scenes, manipulating those in power. The Admiral didn't like it one bit, but like so many others, he didn't have the power to do anything about it. Sighing, he pushed aside thoughts of the past and turned back to the present. He wasn't here to dwell what was out of his hands, but rather to celebrate the victory.

* * *

The next morning Susan found herself outside the door to the Rasputin's guest quarters, wondering if she should go through with this or not. Talia was still recovering from a debilitating injury and the last thing Susan wanted to do was put more strain on her already fatigued system. On the other hand she didn't know if she could go through with this party alone, and when she was with Talia all the noise in her head seemed to diminish somewhat and she felt so much better.

Her hand hovering over the door control, she finally made up her mind and pushed it, before she could regret the choice. "Enter," said a voice from within. As the door opened, she did just that, still feeling nervous about her relationship with Talia. She didn't want to rush things after being so long apart, but every time she was near Talia she couldn't help but feel lifted.

"Sit down, Susan," Talia's voice called from the bathroom. "I will be out in the minute."

"Mm, I just love a hot shower," Talia said as she made her way into the main room. Unlike Susan quarters the guest quarters only had the two rooms, the bedroom and the small bathroom. "I was wondering if I was going to see you this morning."

"I slept in," Susan lied. Actually she had spent two hours debating over the decision about asking Talia along with her tonight. Looking at Talia now though, her breath taken away by the other woman's beauty, she knew she had made the right decision.

"Well, you needed it," Talia replied, drying her hair with a white towel. "The doctor told me how you stayed by my bed while I was asleep. You really didn't need to do that."

"I wanted to," Susan replied softly, hoping that Talia was feeling the same way she was right now.

Talia turned around to look at her, letting to towel drop forgotten to the floor. She smiled, immediately lighting up her whole face. "I hoped that was what you would say, Susan," she said. "I was worried that you didn't feel the same way for me any more."

Susan raised her hands to cup Talia's face, gently, her fingers like feathers against the other woman's face. "I could never forget how much I love you, Talia. Even after all the time we spent apart, I couldn't forget about what you meant to me."

Talia took Susan right hand in her own smaller hand and turned it, gently kissing the knuckles. She looked up, catching Susan eyes in her own. "And I couldn't forget you, Susan," she whisper, two tears trailing slowly down her cheeks. "In all that time I spend locked away in my own mind, through all the horrors she showed me, I never forgot you. It was the only thing that kept me alive."

She paused, and Susan took the time to move closer, tears beginning to well up in own eyes and she felt the same heartbreak over the time they had spent apart. "I'm sorry," she tried to say. "If I had known that part of you had survived, I would have done something. I went to see you... her... before she left. There was nothing there... I didn't know."

Talia squeezed Susan's hand and held it against her cheek, unable to stop the tears from flowing freely. "I know," she sobbed. "I was... I was too weak. I tried to call out to you. I tried to say something, but there was nothing I could do. Then she told me she had killed you, showed me how she had done it, and I didn't know what to believe. I held on to hope though, held on to the last memory I had of you, hoping that one day you would find a way to free me."

She paused, allowing Susan to wipe the tears from her eyes. "I'm sorry. I am not usually like this. It's just that I never thought I would see you again, and I didn't know how you felt about me."

"I love you, Talia," Susan told her in a voice that was beginning to quaver as well. "When I thought you were dead I tried for so long to get over you, to try and forget. Most of the time I just threw myself into my work, and then along came the war and for a while the pain seemed to stop. But I could never forget you, not after what we shared."

"Hush," Talia said, holding a finger to her lips. "You don't need to explain now. It's not the right time, the pain for both of us is still too fresh. Later when we are alone together we can talk about this. Besides you have a ship to run, Captain. I must admit that came as a bit of shock, in fact most of what has happened is a shock."

"Do you remember anything about the past two years," Susan asked carefully, not wanting to bring up any bad memories.

Talia nodded very slowly, as if trying to remember at the same time. "It is very strange. I have memories in my head, but I don't remember the events. It is like someone has inserted false memories for the past two years, they don't seem real, but they must be. Then I have other... more real memories... of being trapped inside my own mind, being tormented by her."

Susan gently stroked Talia's face. "That must have been horrible, I can't even imagine what it must have been liked trapped in your own mind for all that time."

Talia shrugged. "I don't really remember much, it all seemed to pass so quickly. That's why I was so surprised when you said how long it has been. Time seemed to have so little meaning, and every day was the same, so nothing seemed to matter after a while. I just concentrated on staying alive. Then you came, and all the pain seemed to go away." She stopped and smiled at Susan. "I am just so happy to have you back, Susan."

"Me too," Susan replied, wiping away her own tears. "You don't know how long I dreamed of this moment. I used to think about you every night, dreaming of how, if things had turned out differently I could have kept you, not letting Psi-Corps take you away. I used to think that if I hadn't been so scared to say anything, I could have helped you."

"You can't blame yourself, Susan." Talia said, trying to comfort her. "It is Psi-Corps that is responsible, not you." She shuddered, remembering the experiments Psi-Corps conducted on her, after she left Babylon 5. "It is an evil organisation, one that doesn't care about the rights of the telepaths under its control." Her eyes narrowed and her tone grew angrier. "One day they will have to pay for what they did, both to me and everyone else they have ever harmed."

Susan nodded and gathered Talia up in her arms, comforting her. "They will, Talia. I promise. Some day they will pay for everything they have done."

"That's why you need to learn to use your abilities, Susan. You are powerful, at least a P11, maybe a lot more. I can feel it when I am in your mind, or you are in mine. If you don't learn to focus, you won't be able to hide from them."

Susan didn't say anything. She didn't want to talk about it right now. After all that had happened to Talia, all the hurt and pain, she couldn't ever imagine using her telepathic powers again. They had always scared her, and now that they had grown in power she was even more frightened, imagining that if she tried to use them then Psi-Corps would find out. She didn't want to tell Talia this yet, though.

Fortunately the awkward moment was interrupted by a beep from her link. With quick glance at Talia, as if to say, "what now?" she tapped the receive button. "Yes," she said irritably, annoyed at this disruption, despite the difficult topic Talia had just bought up.

"Sorry to disturb you, Captain," the voice on the other end said. "But I just had a call from Admiral Mellor to ask me to remind you that he expects to see you at fourteen hundred hours on the dot."

"Understood," Susan replied. "Ivanova out."

"Something up," Talia asked.

Susan nodded. "It is why I came here to see you this morning. The President of Proxima is having this party and I was... wondering...if you wanted to come along with me." she paused before adding, "as my date. The Admiral insisted I take someone, and if you are up to it I would like it to be you." Susan looked nervous, before finally admitting, "I am not sure I am really ready to face a big crowd alone just yet."

Talia smiled, and ran her fingers through her hair, a manoeuvre that set Susan's heart fluttering. "I will... on one condition."

"Anything," Susan replied.

"You shouldn't agree so quickly, Susan," Talia said with a mischievous grin. Then after deciding that she had kept Susan in suspense long enough she continued. "I need you to take me shopping. I definitely need a new wardrobe, and my account appear to be empty at the moment."

Susan nodded, a little bemused. "What is wrong with what you already have?" she asked.

Talia stared at Susan as if she had just turned into a Narn. "You must be joking," she said, more than a little surprised. "None of those things are really my style, especially those ugly green military uniforms."

"I quite like them," Susan said, remembering that she never really did like what Talia had worn back on Babylon 5.

Talia laughed and stood up, pulling Susan up with her. Then she drew Susan close, so that their bodies were pressed together. "Well if you don't want me to come with you," she teased, before leaning forward to place a soft kiss on Susan's lips. "If you want me along, my adorable Susan Ivanova, you are going to have to buy me a new dress, at the very least."

"It's a deal," Susan replied, returning Talia's kiss. "We should leave at once though, there isn't much time. I remember how much you liked to shop."

"Mm, we should, shouldn't we," Talia replied, reluctantly pulling away from their embrace. She couldn't let go of Susan totally though, her hands sliding slowing down the other woman's arms until the reached her hands. There she squeezed them tightly.

"I will just go and organise a shuttle," Susan told her, still holding on to Talia's hands. She didn't want to let go yet either, not after she had spent so long dreaming of this moment.

"And I will get dressed and meet you down in the shuttle bay," Talia replied. She began slowly rub her thumb in a circular motion around Susan's palm. "Unless you can think of something else that you would rather be doing."

"Ms. Winters, I am on duty," Susan said in a voice that tried to appear shocked. She wasn't succeeding very well though, especially when she looked at the thin robe Talia was wearing. "Unfortunately, I think if we don't go now, I am not sure we ever will."

Talia nodded, leaning forward to kiss Susan passionately. After nearly a minute she pulled back and released Susan's hands. "I will see you in the shuttle bay in fifteen minutes, Susan," she said, a little breathlessly. "And remember I want a dress, a nice one."

"You'll have it," Susan promised, as she backed out of Talia room, although she was going so slowly it almost appeared as if she wasn't moving at all.

"Go on," Talia said, giving her a mock shove in the direction of the door. Susan smiled and with a little wave of her fingers left the room, the door closing behind her. Talia felt like leaping for joy, so happy did she feel. She had never felt this way before about anyone, and despite all she had been through over the past few years, she still thought she was incredibly lucky.

She had fallen in love with Susan the moment she had laid eyes on her that day in C&C. She had always known that Susan felt something for her, and despite the one night they had spent together, and the way Susan had freed her, she still didn't know how deep the Comm... no, Captain's... feelings ran.

Despite her own elation, she couldn't help but feel a little sad, not only for the time that had been lost, but also for Susan. It was obvious that she was suffering, trying to deal with her new found abilities alone. She knew that Susan wouldn't be able to hide them forever, not without help, and if she tried to shut her mind away that would only lead to more pain. As she pulled on one of the green uniforms, they seemed to be the only clean items of clothing left in her wardrobe, she made a vow to do all she could to help Susan.

It wasn't just for Susan either, it was also for herself. If she didn't help Susan, she knew what would happen, she had seen it so many times before. While a telepath's abilities were latent, which was usually only up until puberty, they were difficult to detect, but once they bloomed, an untrained telepath became a lot easier to find, especially when they tried to use their powers. Unless Susan learned to control her abilities she would eventually be discovered by the Psi-Corps, and that would be too horrible to think about.

Talia didn't want to think of Susan's beautiful spirit crushed by Psi-Corps, as they turned her into what she had always hated. She could sense the strength of Susan's mind, it was powerful, too powerful for the Corps to let her use the sleepers. Even if Psi-Corps would let Susan take the drugs, Talia couldn't see Susan submitting to that idea, not after what had happened to her mother. She wouldn't let her either, she couldn't imagine what it would be like to no longer hear Susan's thoughts in her mind.

Shuddering in fear for Susan, and herself, Talia resolved to do all she could to help Susan learn the full extent of her powers, and to train her to hide her talent away from those who sought her. She felt a little sad that she had finally found someone who she could love, only to have to face losing her to Psi-Corps, just as she herself had nearly been lost forever.

Sighing to herself, Talia zipped up the jacket of her uniform, and without looking back, left the room. She could feel the need Susan had for her, Susan had been broadcasting her fear and longing so strongly, she couldn't help but pick up on it. Susan had saved her, now she had to save Susan, before it was too late.

* * *


	33. Chapter 33

* * *

It was early morning on Proxima III, the darkness of the planet's long night still covering the surface like a dark veil. Out of the gloom the large shape of a flying reptile, known locally as a Sunhawk, suddenly appeared, gliding smoothly in the warm air thermals created by the mines and factories far below.

Sunhawks were a creature native to Proxima, and spent most of their days gliding high above the planet's surface, soaking up the sun. While they were commonly thought of as reptile they actually had a lot in common with plants as well, able to subsist for nearly a month off just sunlight and air. Since human settlement of the planet, however, their patterns had changed slightly. Instead of gliding all day they had taken to sunning themselves on the outer surfaces of the two domed cities, and then, as the sun dipped towards the horizon, they would gather at the city gates, begging for any scraps of food available.

Despite their annoying habits and ugly appearance, the Sunhawks were a lot smarter than the human population knew. The inhabitants of Proxima considered them little better than dodos: large, stupid, and little use for anything. In fact, much of this appearance was little more than an act, a ruse designed to trick the warm blooded beings into giving them food, and building places for them to sun themselves during the day. So far it had worked magnificently, and each day the Sunhawks would glide down from their mountain homes and sun themselves by roosting on the outer surface of the great domed city, their vast golden wings outstretched to catch as much sunlight as possible.

This particular Sunhawk, whose name was Tikilikac in the Sunhawk language, was even smarter than the rest. He knew that the warm blooded beings were very strange and liked to work through the night, their strange metal homes creating large thermals of warm air that allowed him to glide down out of the mountains while it was still dark. Each morning, a few hours before sunrise, he would fly from his nightly roost, following the ribbon of light that stretched from the mountains into the great dome.

Each morning, well after dawn, the rest of the flock would arrive, only to find that Tikilikac had already taken the best sunning spot, right at the very top of the dome. While they had spent two hours making their way down from the mountains he had already been busy for two hours, sunning himself, and so he could afford to leave earlier, making his way to the gates of the city, where the warm blooded creatures would occasionally throw food to him. Even if they didn't there was always the chance of picking up a stupid lizard or spiky worm on his flight back up to his mountain home.

This morning, though, things were different. As Tikilikac glided down out of the night sky, skilfully avoiding the strange metal beast, who's massive form occasionally flew the skies above the dome, he noticed a strange occurrence below. The warm blooded beings, he had noticed, were creatures of habit. One of their regular patterns was to create light in certain locations in their city... in almost exactly the same places every night.

This night it was different, though. Far below, near the tall metal mountain that Tikilikac liked to watch each day, strange bright lights were strung everywhere, occasionally shining into his eyes with the brightness of the sun. Curious, Tikilikac leaned over the edge of his perch and looked downwards, his frilly crest extended to show his interest. What he saw made him jump for joy, his clawed feet clicking up and down on the metal railing.

The warm blooded beings were having a big meeting. Tikilikac vaguely remembered the last big meeting, and recalled that afterwards lots of food had been available at the back door. He liked big meetings, although it had been some time since the warm blooded beings had conducted one. There had been many little meetings, but, if his crafty old brain was thinking correctly, there hadn't been a big meeting since all the green skinned beings, and their funny light making sticks, had left.

Cackling to himself, Tikilikac leaned closer, intent on learning all he could. Perhaps, if he was really smart this time, he could keep the knowledge of the meeting to himself, so he would get all the food instead of it going to rest of the, much slower, Sunhawks. There seemed to be a lot of blue-skinned beings at this meeting, which was good, because they never ate all the best food, meaning there would be a lot more for him. Truly, this was going to turn out to be a good night indeed for old Tikilikac.

* * *

Below, in the huge Colonial Administration Building, Susan held another opinion entirely. So far, the party had been almost as bad as she had imagined; from the bright spot lights outside, to the throng of reporters, businessmen, and Earthforce personal inside. "God, I really hate parties," she muttered under her breath as she made her way up the stairs towards the podium, ready to receive her medal from the President.

Below her was the great entrance hall, which for the night had been decked out with holographic light displays, several bands, and long tables covered with a wide variety of local food. There was even a large bar at the far end, which had been running a busy trade all night, as none of the Earthforce personal were that keen on the food provided. Susan wasn't concerned with any of this though, instead, she was trying to make it through the night without going totally insane.

Right now, she could pick up constant swells of conflicting emotions from those gathered below. Greed seemed the most common, especially from the large number of reporters that were doing the rounds. But that was not the only emotion she was picking up with her newly augmented telepathic powers. Envy, anger, happiness, jealousy, and a hundred others also assaulted her mind. Then, slightly more subdued than the spikes of strong emotion, was a constant babble of thousands of voices, which she could hear both telepathically and audibly. The whole, horrible, celebration was giving her a splitting headache, one that got worse and worse as the night went on.

Susan looked out across the crowded room and, despite the insistent throbbing in her head, couldn't help but feel a flash of joy at seeing Talia standing there waiting for her. The blonde telepath was enchanting in the long, black dress Susan had bought her earlier that day, a look enhanced by the shimmering lace shawl draped around her shoulders. Not only did the shawl complement her delicate features perfectly, but it also covered up the angry red scar the PPG wound had left on her shoulder.

She felt a brief twinge of anger at herself for allowing Talia to be injured, even though that very injury had been the catalyst that had bought them together again. The past few days she had been feeling very protective of Talia, not wanting any harm to come to her ever again. Ironically, it had been Talia who had been protecting her tonight, helping her block out the voices and emotions that constantly assaulted her mind. In fact, without Talia's help, Susan was sure she would have run screaming from the building hours ago.

She smiled at that thought, wondering what Admiral Mellor and the other Earthforce officers would have thought if they had seen that. The insistent presence of President Mitrovic soon took her mind off idle thoughts though, and focused her attention on the ceremony he was about to conduct. Gritting her teeth, and trying to looked pleased, she strode forward to the applause of the gathered crowd. The throbbing in her head grew stronger, and she lost sight of Talia, which only made matters worse.

Despite her fears, and the constant pounding of the crowd's emotions and surface thoughts, she made it through the brief ceremony, managing to smile at all the right times, and even allow the President to pin the small gold medal onto her ceremonial uniform, just below the Earthforce insignia, and the single gold bar that signified her command rank.

That done she hurried off the raised platform and through the crowd towards the spot where she had last seen Talia. Insistent reporters rushed forwards, all demanding an interview, or at the very least a brief statement. Susan found herself imprisoned on all sides by reporters and well wishers, who all circled like a feeding school of sharks, hungry for a piece of her flesh. To her horror, she found herself becoming disorientated by the constant noise, the cries of reporters urging a statement, and the constant seething emotions of those around her.

Then, just as she thought it would all overwhelm her a cool hand, encased in a black glove, touched her arm. The voices, the noise, and the tidal surge of emotions retreated, flowing away from her like a retreating wave. Instead there was only one voice, a soft gentle voice that spoke in her mind, comforting and relaxing. _"Concentrate on my voice, Susan,"_ Talia sent. _"Let me block them out for you."_

She nodded, and the reporters took that as an agreement to their request, and surged forward. Susan was used to crowds of people though, it was just the mental assault she couldn't handle. Quickly and efficiently she gave them the short statement they desired, telling everyone across the entire Earth Alliance, and probably a few other worlds as well, her thoughts. Then, after she had said how honoured she was to be presented with the medal by the people of Proxima, and why it was the crews of all the defending ships who had really earned it, and everything else they expected to hear, she pushed her way through the crowd.

Throughout the short statement, Talia had stood close by, her body pressed up against Susan's by the crush, while her mind had filtered out the thoughts of all those nearby, allowing Susan to relax and speak without fear. Now she hung on to Susan's arm as the taller woman pushed her way through the crowd, towards a quiet corner near the entrance to the great hall. Behind the school of hungry reporters considered following the Rasputin's Captain, but then found other, more interesting things to record, as President Mitrovic stepped up to the podium for his third speech of the night.

Alone in their quiet corner, Susan and Talia drew close, Talia  continued to block out the thoughts of everyone nearby. "Thank you," Susan said, holding Talia's hand in her own, looking deeply into the blonde woman's eyes. "I am not sure I would have been able to take much more of that."

A flicker of a smile briefly touched Talia's lips, then she leant forward, guiding Susan's hands around her waist. "I would do anything for you, Susan," she said, her voice barely audible above the chattering crowd. Susan heard every word though, Talia's words and the feelings accompanying them sent directly into her mind.

Susan felt her heart begin to pound faster. She pulled Talia against her, marvelling at the feel of the other woman's body against hers, even through the thick material of her uniform. She leaned down, and Talia's face came up to meet her, a look of longing clearly visible the blonde woman's face. Then, just as their lips were about to touch, she froze.

An icy chill ran down Susan's spine and her whole body began to tense with a sudden anxiety. Striding across the room, cutting a swath through the crowd as he walked, was the fearful sight of Bester. Perceiving Susan's sudden tenseness, Talia slipped off her glove and took Susan's hand in hers. Susan felt the fear begin to vanish as Talia's calm voice spoke in her mind. _'Don't worry, Susan,'_ Talia's voice said. _'I can keep him out for you. Just stay calm and you have nothing to worry about. Don't let your fear conquer you unnecessarily. '_

Susan nodded almost imperceptibly, indicating that she had understood. She could have replied telepathically, but she was afraid of alerting Bester, as well as hurting Talia. Her only attempt at mental communication so far had left Talia with a headache, and she had been afraid to try since. Her body went almost rigid, as she straightened to look down on Bester.

"Captain Ivanova," Bester said, a broad, if false looking smile covering his face. "I hoped I would find you here."

"What do you want?" Susan asked coldly, hoping the Psi-Cop would get the message and leave.

Bester didn't. Instead, he just held out his arms as if to indicate the crowded room. "I was just enjoying the party," he said. "Then I saw you, and remembered that I hadn't thanked you yet."

"What for?" Susan asked, her brow blemished by a frown. She couldn't think of anything she had done to help Bester.

"Why, for helping me out with Mr. Kiel of course," Bester replied. "Now that he is gone, I am free to climb the ladder of success. He was a powerful renegade, and I am pleased he is gone. It will make my job over the coming months, a lot easier."

"I am happy for you," Susan replied sarcastically. "There was no need to thank me personally though, you could have just sent a message, or better still, nothing at all."

"Now, now, Ivanova," Bester said, not appearing at all upset by her words. "There is no need to be that way, especially after I stayed here on this rather backward world an extra night, all just to thank you in person. You should feel honoured."

Susan's face gave no indication of feeling anything more than dislike for Bester. "You have thanked me, you can leave now," she said, staring down at him.

Bester smiled again. "You know, Ivanova. I am beginning to think that you don't like me very much."

"It took you that long to figure it out," Susan said, a false look of surprise on her face.

Bester shook his head. "I really don't understand why you think I am the bad guy all the time. I am only here to help, after all." He turned and looked at Talia. "I can see by your companion tonight, that your reputed dislike for telepath's isn't as strong as you might like us to believe." He paused and narrowed his eyes, staring at Talia. "Although I don't know what Ms. Winters sees in you."

Beside Susan, Talia suddenly gasped as if in pain, and dug her fingernails into Susan's hand, causing Susan to wince in response. In Susan's own mind, which was still linked to Talia's, she could feel Bester beginning to probe the blonde telepath's thoughts. "Leave her alone," she almost shouted at Bester, taking a step towards him.

Bester stopped his scan and looked towards her instead. "A little protective tonight aren't we, Captain," Bester said, an evil smile on his face. "If I didn't know better I would think that there was something going on between you and Ms. Winters here, although what she could see in a mundane I just don't know."

"You wouldn't understand," Talia said softly, massaging her forehead as if in pain.

"So I see," Bester said. "Very well, play your little game then. But remember, the corps is mother, the corps is father. Don't even think of trying to betray us."

"Of course not," Talia said, her voice low, and her eyes beginning to fill with tears. Susan felt her sadness, and squeezed her hand tighter, ignoring the pain Talia's fingernails were causing to her hands. Talia drew on Susan's strength and regained a little of her composure.

"I think you should leave now, Mr. Bester," Susan said, the look on her face barely concealing her anger.

"Be seeing you then, Captain," he replied with his trademark salute. He looked over at Talia with a sneer on his face. "You can keep her, we have no use for her any more anyway. The Corps has taken all it needed from Ms. Winters." Then, before Susan could demand to know what he meant by that statement, he turned and walked off towards the doors of the hall, where his assistant, Sarah Chang, was waiting for him.

With a tired gasp, Talia released Susan's hand. Ignoring the stinging pain in her palm, where Talia's fingernails had dug into the soft flesh, Susan turned at once to see if she was all right. "How are you feeling?" she asked. "He didn't hurt you did he?"

Talia shook her head, trying to clear away the cloud of pain. "No, but blocking a powerful scan like that was... painful."

"I'm so sorry, Talia," Susan tried to comfort her. "Had I known he would have been here, I wouldn't have come. I never meant for anything like this to happen to you."

Talia smiled, a brief upturning of her lips. "I am fine, Susan," she said softly. "And you survived an encounter with a Psi-Cop without him learning anything about you."

Susan glanced up, checking to make sure Bester had really left. There was no sign of him, or his assistant. She felt relief wash over her, realising that Talia was correct, she had survived the encounter with Bester, but only with Talia's assistance. She didn't know how the confrontation would have turned out if Talia hadn't been there to support her. She reached out and stroked Talia's cheek, gently brushing the blonde hair away from the other woman's face. "I didn't want him to hurt you like that. I would do anything to protect you from harm," she said tenderly.

"I thought that was my job," Talia giggled. Susan looked at her in surprise for a second before joining in Talia's laughter. It was more a feeling of relief than anything else, but it felt so good.

"What's so funny?" a deep voice asked from somewhere close by.

Susan looked up, drawing away from Talia and saluting as she recognised Admiral Mellor. Her superior officer was dressed, as she was, in a greyish-blue ceremonial uniform, but in his hands he held a plate of food. "Don't let me interrupt," Mellor said, while at the same time chewing on a chunk of greyish meat. "You know this stuff isn't bad after all. Do you know what it's called?"

"I think it is some sort of lizard meat, Sir," Susan replied. Talia slipped her hand through the crook of Susan's arm and drew closer, snuggling up against Susan's side. "I can't remember what it is called, but President Mitrovic seems to like it," she continued, looking a little embarrassed by Talia's closeness.

"It is really good, Captain," the Admiral said, picking up another piece of the meat. "You should try some."

"Perhaps later, Sir," she replied, not really feeling at all hungry at the moment.

"So, how are you enjoying the party so far?" he asked, with an almost invisible wink at Talia. "I know how much you were looking forward to it."

"It has been... interesting," Susan replied.

"I see," Mellor said. "Well at least there is a reward at the end of all this."

"There is?" Susan queried, remembering that he hadn't mentioned anything about a reward earlier.

Mellor looked at her, mock surprise on his face. "You mean I didn't mention the three weeks leave I am granting to everyone involved in the battle. I could have sworn I mentioned it." He shrugged. "Oh well, when you get to my age..." He paused and look over the room. "Well, it looks like I have other officers to talk to yet tonight. Enjoy yourself, Captain, although by the look of your companion I am sure that won't be a problem."

Susan watched the Admiral retreating across the room for a few seconds before she turned back to Talia. The beautiful telepath was observing the Admiral's passage with a contemplative expression on her face. Then, as if she felt Susan's gaze on her, she glanced up, looking straight at Susan, a thoughtful look in her eyes. "Is something wrong," Susan asked her.

"No, nothing is wrong," Talia replied with a smile, reaching out and taking Susan hands in hers. A brief spark of electricity seemed to pass between the two woman as their bare hands touched. "I was just thinking about something."

"Anything you want to tell me?" Susan asked, almost teasingly.

"Perhaps later," Talia replied, disentangling her hands and slipping her glove back over the bare flesh. "Right now I need to get something to drink, even if it only a glass of water." She gave Susan a quick peck on the cheek. "I won't be long."

She turned and, with one final, adoring gaze in Susan's direction, hurried across the room towards the bar at the far end. Susan watched her leave, her eyes drawn unconsciously to low back of Talia's dress, tracing the outline of the other woman's spine. Then, just as her subconscious was drawing her down into even more interesting areas, a familiar voice cut into her thoughts, snatching her away from those pleasant dreams and back to reality.

"Captain Ivanova," the voice called out, just above the general hubbub of the crowded room. She turned around with a darkening frown on her face, expecting to see another reporter or well wisher. Instead the short form of Dr. Kozlowski appeared out of the crowd, although for a minute she struggled to recognise him. The normal white coat, glasses, and frizzled hair was gone, and in its place was a smart, dark blue suit and neatly combed hair. "What is it, Doctor?" she asked, amazed by the change.

"I just came to say goodbye," he replied, extending a hand for her to shake. "I have to take a shuttle to the Vega colony in a few hours, and I doubt we will see each other again before I leave."

Susan raised her eyebrows at the news. "You're leaving? That is rather sudden isn't it?"

Kozlowski nodded. "Yes, I suppose it is, Captain. But, my assignment here was only meant to be temporary, and with the Interstellar Alliance finally coming through with its promise of new technologies, I have been ordered to the shipyards at Vega colony to start work on a new project. I think, after all that has happened over the past few weeks, the Warlock destroyers have proven themselves more than capable. The Rasputin's engineering crew should now be able to get along without my input.

"Good luck then, Doctor," Susan said, shaking his hand. "We are all going to miss your presence on the Rasputin." The brief touch sent a shiver crawling across her skin as she was unable to avoid scanning Kozlowski. For some reason though, she was unable to read his thoughts properly and the uneasy feeling she felt soon passed.

Kozlowski looked pleased by her words, not noticing her reaction. "Perhaps we will meet again sometime, Captain," he said, releasing her hand.

"Perhaps we will, Doctor," she agreed. "What are you going to be working on now by the way?"

Kozlowski glanced around, as if checking to make sure no-one would overhear. After realising that everyone else nearby was so wrapped up in the own conversations to notice what their neighbours were saying, he leaned closer and with a low voice told Susan of his new mission. "Well, I am not really supposed to tell anyone, but I guess it can't hurt if I just tell you. It is a new model explorer ship, using the same basic design, but with the addition of several of the new technologies that Earth has acquired over the past few years. It will probably be at least a year before the first of the new ships is completed, but it is certainly a project I am looking forward to beginning."

"I am sure you will do a good job," Susan said with a soft smile gracing her face.

"Thank you, Captain," Kozlowski replied, before glancing down at the antique watch around his wrist. "Well, it seems my time here is up. I have a liner to catch in a couple of hours, and I don't want to be late." He started to walk away, heading towards the main doors, but then paused after a few steps and looked back for a moment. "Goodbye, Captain. I have enjoyed my time with the Rasputin, but all things must come to an end. Good luck with your command, I am sure you will continue to be very successful."

"Thank you, Doctor," Susan said quietly, watching as he walked away through the crowd, his short frame soon vanishing, swallowed up by the collection of Proxima businessmen and Earthforce officers. A flicker of a smile crinkled her lips, as she remembered everything Kozlowski had done. He had been infuriating at times, but also, somehow, she couldn't help but like the doctor. She would miss him, especially his knack for solving problems mere mortals considered impossible. Perhaps that was going a little bit too far, but she could be fairly certain that without his help, the Rasputin and her crew might not have achieved as much as they had.

As soon as the doctor was out of sight she glanced around, hoping to see Talia. The blonde woman appeared to have vanished, and she could no longer see her over at the bar where she had been. Susan glanced around nervously, suddenly aware that the thoughts of those around her were beginning to press in on her again. Worried about what might have happened to Talia she decided to go looking for her, slowly pushing her way through the crowded room, towards the last place she had seen Talia.

Halfway to her destination several voices suddenly called out her name, demanding her attention. She glanced across the room and spied the Rasputin's command staff and several other Earthforce officers, all gathered along one corner of the bar, various glasses of liquor in their hands. She paused, torn for a second between looking for Talia and greeting her crew. Eventually duty won out and she went to join Petrov, Schmitt, and the rest.

* * *

"So then the pilot says, 'looks like it's a goner, mate." Alister Schmitt broke out laughing as he finished the joke, the rest of the gathered Earthforce officers joining in.

Susan smiled politely, but her worry about Talia prevented her was joining in the general merriment. She had been here an hour, and despite several increasingly desperate glances around the room, had seen no sign of Talia. She had listened to six dirty jokes, several old war tales, and survived three rounds of drinks. Now that the forth round was being dispersed by Petrov, she was looking desperately for some way to escape. Instead a tall glass of some bubbling, blue liquid was pressed into her hands.

"What is it?" she asked the Commander.

He shrugged. "I'm not sure, Captain, but everyone here seems to be drinking it tonight.

Susan stared at it for several seconds before finally taking a sip. It was horrible, just as she had expected, but with her command staff watching she could hardly refuse to drink it. With a grimace she downed the bitter drink in a single swallow, hoping the taste wouldn't stick around in her mouth all night. Then, as she was placing the glass back on the bar, someone's hand touched hers. _'Come with me, Susan,'_ Talia's mental voice called softly in her mind, briefly blocking out the thoughts of the other party goers.

Susan turned around and her heart almost leapt for joy when she saw Talia waiting silently behind her, a basket of some kind clutched one hand. "I was wondering where you went," she said, eyeing the basket with raised eyebrows.

 _"I thought I would prepare us a private meal, and look for somewhere away from this crowd,"_ Talia said telepathically, and then out loud she said, "If you will come with me, Captain. I am still waiting for that dance you promised me."

"Of course," Susan replied. Then she turned around to face the collected officers, who were looking at her and Talia with unvoiced questions in their eyes. "If you will excuse me."

Petrov was the first to speak. "Of course, Captain. Have a nice night."

"And don't do anything I wouldn't," a more than slightly drunk Lieutenant-Commander Schmitt added. Ignoring the laughter that comment caused, Susan took the hand Talia offered and allowed herself to be led across the room, toward a dark passage leading into the bowels of the building.

Behind her, the gathered officers watched her departure with some interest. Finally Petrov spoke up, asking, "so what does everyone think of our captain?"

"A fine woman, and a great Captain," Schmitt said, raising his glass of Centauri wine in a toast. "I will sail with anyone who is as fearless as she is." He looked around at the rest of the officers, who hadn't returned his toast, before shrugging and downing the drink anyway.

"I haven't really had a chance to get to know her yet," Lieutenant-Commander Dreyer said, still nursing the same drink that he had been given at the beginning of the evening. "But, from what I have seen, I think she will be a good Captain."

"As soon as she loses her bad taste in friends," Major Logan added, staring in the direction Susan and Talia had vanished.

Petrov smiled, realising that the Major was probably only jealous. "How about you, Commander," Lily asked him.

Petrov looked down at his drink for a moment. "Hmm, well... Despite a few annoying habits, such as pushing herself far too hard, I think I like her. She is a good Captain, and willing to put herself at risk to save her crew. I think she is someone I can respect, if not even grow to like."

"To the Captain," Alister cried out, raising a newly filled glass.

"To the Captain," the other officers said together, this time returning his toast, before bursting out laughing as the flight commander toppled over backwards and landed on the floor with a crash. His drink flew across the room, shattering on the stone floor, and splashing purple wine all over the beautifully clean, shimmering, white dress of some businessmen's escort.

* * *

"Where are we going," Susan asked as Talia led her into an elevator. Talia had been leading her along the darkened hallways for several minutes, further and further away from the main hall, towards the centre of the immense building.

"Somewhere peaceful and quiet," Talia replied, smiling mischievously at Susan. She looked over at the voice control for the elevator. "Observation," she said into the elevator's control panel.

The control panel lit up and both women felt a sudden unfamiliar wrenching feeling as the old model elevator climbed up the centre of the main support strut for the city's dome, heading for the observation platform built right at the very top of the dome. A few seconds later the door opened out onto the dark, cold platform.

Talia shivered as she walked off the elevator. "It is a little colder than I was told," she said, her silky, shoulder length hair fluttering in the chilly wind that blew across the top of the dome. "And higher," she said nervously, glancing over the railing that stretched around the edge of the platform.

"It is peaceful and quiet though," Susan said as she walked out of the elevator to join Talia on the platform. "Just like you promised."

"So you like it then?" Talia asked, looking up at Susan with a hopeful look on her face.

"I do," Susan replied lovingly, sliding an arm around Talia's shoulders and drawing her closer. "It is perfect, we can sit up here and watch the sunrise together."

"You always were a romantic, Susan," Talia giggled as she snuggled up against Susan, enjoying the warmth of the other woman's body.

Susan froze, a cold chill running through her as she realised that was almost the same thing the artificial personality had said to her when she had gone to see Talia shortly before the telepath left Babylon 5. She shook her head and dismissed her irrational fears, realising that the implanted personality was gone, this was still her Talia, now, and hopefully forever.

Talia didn't notice Susan's reaction, instead she gasped in fear, pointing towards something on the far edge of the platform. "What is that," she managed to get out.

Susan turned around to look at what had frightened Talia. "It looks like an ugly, fat bird of some kind," Susan said, staring at the large golden-skinned reptile that sat quietly on the railing, watching the two women with its four beady black eyes. "Or a very ugly lizard."

Tikilikac stared back, watching the strange blue-skinned being in front of him. This was the first time he had seen one of the warm blooded creatures this close, usually they just tossed food from the city's great doors and didn't come very close. He leaned forward a little to observe it closer, his powerful crest raised in curiosity.

"It's not going to attack us, is it?" Talia asked nervously as the creature leaned towards them, faint wisps of steam rising from what she could only assume was its nostrils. It had a predatory glare in its eye, and the sight of the long, curved beak did not inspire confidence in its nature. Behind its small, leathery head a spiked red crest rose up, almost looking like it was challenging them.

Tikilikac didn't notice the growing concern in the thin black-skinned creature. Instead his attention was drawn toward the basket it carried, and the wonderful aromas that were rising from it. A Sunhawk's sense of smell was particularly powerful, and it could sense the odour of stupid lizard, unmistakable, despite it having been cooked. 'The warm blooded creatures must have bought it to feed me,' he thought, waddling closer, one claw outstretched for the basket.

"I think its hungry," Susan said, picking up on the creature's overriding emotion. "Give it something to eat."

"Are you sure?" Talia asked, stepping back towards the elevator as the creature came closer.

"It is more interested in the basket of food, than in you," Susan promised her, noticing where the creature's eyes were focused.

Still nervous, despite Susan's reassuring presence, Talia opened the basket and pulled out one of the containers she had so carefully packed inside. The creature though didn't seem interested in the container, instead it was after the whole basket. It lunged towards Talia and she let out a screech and dropped it, allowing the Sunhawk to snatch it up and retreat around behind the elevator to devour its prize.

"Now what are we going to do," Talia said, looking at the disappearing creature in annoyance. She held up the one container she had saved. "This is all we have left."

"I wasn't very hungry anyway," Susan replied, eyeing the greyish meat in the container with some suspicion.

Talia smiled adoringly at her, and put the container down on the ground. "Well what are we going to do now, then?" she asked, wandering over towards the railing. She sat down at the edge of the platform, looking out over the brightly lit panorama of the city that lay spread out across the valley before them. Susan joined her, taking a seat next to her, their bodies just touching.

They sat there for several minutes, just watching the distant factories and mines light up the night. Despite the alien nature of the constructions when compared to the naturally rocky landscape, it was still a very beautiful sight. In one place they could see a ribbon of light, probably the maglev transit system, tracing its way across the dark desert, before disappearing into a distant mountain.

Only the sound of the bird-like creature munching on their food from its hiding place behind the elevator did anything to spoil the moment, and most of the time that noise was lost, carried away by the wind that blew down from the mountains. Sitting next to each other, the two women said nothing, instead just enjoying the panorama that stretched out below them.  "Did you have anything planned for the leave the Admiral promised you, Susan?" Talia asked finally, breaking their silence, and glancing over at Susan with a curious, almost apprehensive, expression.

Susan shook her head. "I thought we could just spend time together at Io. I know it isn't a wonderful vacation spot, but I do know my way around there. Anyway, all I really want to do is spend those three weeks with you."

Talia smiled, then she reached over and clasped Susan's hand in her own. Susan flinched slightly at the touch, her mind suddenly picking up the strong emotions Talia was feeling. They were not negative emotions though, and the contact soon calmed her, putting her troubled mind at ease. "I thought we might go on a holiday together," Talia said. "Somewhere peaceful and quiet where we could be alone, far away from everyone else."

"Did you have anywhere in mind?" Susan asked, a little surprised, but not perturbed, by the idea. "I am afraid the only places I know don't really fit the ideal of quiet vacation spots."

Talia hesitated for a second, and through the link between their minds Susan could pick up a strong feeling of apprehension over what she was about to say. "I was thinking of something more along the lines of a Minbari colony," Talia said finally. "I happen to know of a quiet world that has lots of long beaches, warm days, nice accommodations, and best of all, less than fifty sentients on the whole planet."

"That sounds perfect," Susan said, a smile lighting up her face as she thought about the idea. Then the smile vanished as her mind dredged up obstacles to such a beautiful idea.  "But the Minbari would never allow us to go there. It is hard enough getting access to Minbar, let alone one of their colonies."

"I have already arranged it," Talia admitted hesitatingly, not wanting Susan to be angry with her for making plans without consulting with her first.

Susan wasn't. Instead she was only a little surprised. "You have?" she asked.

"I called Ambassador Delenn while you were talking to Dr. Kozlowski," Talia explained. "It took me a while, especially getting past her new aide, and then convincing her it was really me, but I did it. She said that she would arrange everything for me. So, if you want to go, we can."

"I do," Susan admitted. "I could think of nothing better now than spending a few weeks away from large crowds."

"There is just one thing," Talia said, and Susan could feel the hesitation in her thoughts. "It's... " Then her voice trailed off, faltering before she could finish.

"It's what?" Susan pressed, wanting to know what Talia was unable to say.

"A colony of telepaths," Talia finally admitted, knowing what Susan's reaction would be.

Susan froze for a second, part of her terrified by the prospect. Then her rational mind took over, taking all her fears and pointing out how stupid and baseless they were. "I still want to go," she said. She could sense why Talia wanted to go to the colony, feeling the protective urge that welled up within the other woman. "As long as they stay out of my mind. I don't want anyone in there but you."

"No-one will enter your mind unless you want them to, Susan," Talia promised her. "Shiraka is a place of learning. It is not anything like Psi-Corps."

Susan looked indecisive. "I am not sure I want to learn how to use my abilities."

Talia's reaction was one of fear, both for herself, but mostly for Susan. "You must, Susan. If you don't, you won't be able to hide from Psi-Corps. They will come and get you, and take you away from me. I don't want that to happen. Promise me you will try to learn"

Susan gathered Talia up in her arms, comforting her. "I promise," she whispered gently. "I will go with you and try to learn. I can't promise I will succeed, but I do promise to try." Talia nodded, her head resting comfortably against Susan's shoulder. Her hand reached up to cradle Susan's face, and ever so slowly they found themselves being drawn together.

Then, just before their lips could touch, a loud squealing sound sliced into their thoughts. Susan looked up and glanced over at the creature, who had polished off all the food in the basket, and was now looking hungrily at the container of sliced meat sitting on the ground nearby. "You are really becoming a nuisance," Susan muttered as she pulled the lid of the container and slid it over the platform to the Sunhawk, not wanting to get too close to the creature's sharp looking beak.

Talia was now standing next to the platform, looking at her with a faintly amused smile. Susan walked back to her side. "You know that they all are probably wondering what has happened to me," she said, looking over the edge of the railing, down at the city below. The lights of several vehicles could be seen, slowly making their way along Reagan Dome's wide streets. They looked a little like fireflies from up this high, slowly criss-crossing the city on unknown errands.

"Do you want to go back down?" Talia asked, her voice leaving no doubt in Susan's mind that she definitely didn't want to leave. "I thought you would like it up here, it is so quiet and there is no-one around. Well, except for that stupid bird." She glanced nervously in the direction of the Sunhawk, who had now retreated behind the elevator again.

"I do like it here," Susan said. "I can still hear their voices though, still feel their presence with my mind, but it is quieter up here, much quieter. In fact, I can barely even hear them now."

"You shouldn't even be able to sense anything, Susan," Talia said, sounding a little worried. "I can't, we are too far away to hear the thoughts of normals. Perhaps, if there was a telepath down there, it might be possible."

"I can. It is very faint, but they are still there."

"Are you blocking them?" Talia asked her.

"Of course," Susan replied, sounding a little distressed.

"Here let me help you," Talia said softly, reaching up and placing her hands on Susan's temples. "Concentrate on my thoughts, only on my thoughts. Can you feel them, Susan?"

Susan nodded, her breath become ragged with the effort. She could feel everything that Talia was trying to do, as well as the strong impression of the protectiveness Talia must be feeling. It was a powerful emotion, Talia was obviously projecting her thoughts a lot more forcefully than she would normally.

"Good," Talia replied, her voice growing more distant as Susan's concentration shifted to the thoughts she was receiving. "Now, picture a wall rising to stop them. Build it block by block. Are you doing that?"

Again Susan nodded, although a frown creased her brow. "I have done this before," she said. "I know how to create a block in my mind. My mother showed me when I was only little."

"No you don't," Talia argued, and her projected thoughts faded as she lost concentration. "You know how block thoughts as a latent telepath, like you have all your life. But now you are considerably more powerful, more powerful, even, than I am. You have to learn again... learn how to block out all the thoughts you never used to be able to pick up. Now, try again. Concentrate only on my thoughts."

Susan closed her eyes, focusing all her energy on that one voice in her mind. The other, distant, voices faded away and left in their place was just the single, wonderfully gentle, voice of Talia's mind. _"I am blocking out everything for you, Susan,"_ Talia said mentally. _"Now try to block out my voice, build a wall so you can not hear it any more."_

Susan wasn't sure she wanted to do that, but complied, mentally imagining a wall of stone rising in front of her, imprisoning... no, protecting her. Talia's thoughts faded, disappearing into the distance, now only a faint whisper in her mind. She opened her eyes and looked at Talia, who smiled back. "Good, Susan," she said. "Now just keep the block there and you won't be able to hear anyone, at least not until we go back down."

A single bead of sweat dribbled down Susan's forehead and ran down the side of her face. "I am not sure how long I can maintain it," she said, her voice showing the strain of the concentration. "It is very difficult."

Talia nodded in sympathy. "I know Susan, but with practice it will become easier. It took me nearly a month before I learned to block out the thoughts of normals properly. Try not to concentrate so hard, just try to let it come naturally."

Slowly, in almost minute steps of achievement, the effort began to become easier and the pain of holding the block lessened. Susan felt elated as she realised that she could no longer hear the voices that had been her constant companions for the past few days. Instead there was just the sound of the wind rushing over the surface of the dome, and just above that, the steady beating of her own heart. "It's working," she said, although she felt like shouting for joy.

"For now," Talia replied, taking the edge off Susan's celebrations. "It is only easier now because there is no-one nearby to block, the closest mind is nearly a hundred metres below us. When we go back down, you will pick them up again, and your block may not be strong enough. With time, though, you will learn to block out all but the strongest emotions."

"Maybe we can stay up here until everyone goes away," Susan said wistfully, looking out over the brightly lit city below.

Talia edged closer, an arm sliding around Susan's waist. "That would be nice," she said, her voice barely audible above the wind. She dropped her head down to rest on Susan's shoulder, and she felt for the first time as if she had truly come home. Almost unconsciously Susan slipped her arms around Talia, pulling the blonde telepath closer to her body. "Do you think it will work between us, Susan," Talia asked softly, her free hand amusing itself with the zipper on Susan's ceremonial uniform as she spoke.

"I don't know, Talia," Susan replied, her voice just as soft and gentle. One hand slid lower until it rested against the small of Talia's back, while the other caught Talia's roaming hand and squeezed it gently. They stood there like that for several minutes, Talia's head resting softly on her shoulder and her arms draped around Talia's body. For those few brief minutes the troubles of past days seemed lost as, together, they watched the flickering lights of the distant factories slowly begin to fade, dimmed by the radiance of the coming dawn. The dim light of the night faded, and slowly, a little at a time, the sky began to change from black to pink, and then finally to a dim red, heralding the arrival of Proxima III's sun.

 

Talia was the first to break the embrace, pulling her head away from it's comfortable resting place and looking deeply into Susan's eyes, a deep penetrating gaze that carried with it all the love she felt. _"But we can always try, can't we?"_ she asked mentally, while at the same time she snaked a hand behind Susan's neck and gently pulled her down until their lips were nearly touching.

Susan nodded almost imperceptibly, before allowing herself to be drawn down to meet Talia's kiss. As their lips touched, so did their minds and Susan could feel the love Talia felt for her being reflected back into her mind like a ray of sunlight against a mirror. _"We can always try,"_ she agreed gently, her fear of using her mind to communicate seeming foolish, even childish right now.

Disturbed by the unusual antics of the warm blooded creatures who had taken over its favourite perch, Tikilikac spread his huge, leathery wings and hopped off the railing, gliding away into the coming dawn. He decided that perhaps a slow glide around the dome might be a good idea, and perhaps when he returned, the strange creatures would have left his daytime roost. The warm blooded beings were strange that way, always rushing around during the day, wasting valuable sunning time.

His thoughts soon turned to other matters though, the gentle kiss of the sunlight on his wings, and the warmth of the growing day as he spiralled around the dome, absorbing what light he could. The air thermals were particularly good this morning and, to a Sunhawk, little else mattered when they were aloft, gliding across the landscape, the warm air rushing across golden wings. To old Tikilikac, the pleasures of a morning flight were rare, but, as he had eaten well this morning there seemed no need to worry about wasted sunning time. Instead, he turned away from the dome, and its strange alien inhabitants, and headed out across the desert, the red sands of Proxima III rushing along below him.

Back on the platform, neither woman noticed the Sunhawk's departure, its presence long ago having faded into insignificance. They didn't notice the glorious dawn either, the giant sun's burning radiance seemed insignificant compared to the light they saw inside each other's souls. They both knew this moment wouldn't last, and that soon they would have to leave this place and return to the real world. But for the next few hours, as they lay in each other's arms, the real world, with all its problems and concerns, didn't even exist.

The sensation of their love drove away thoughts of Psi-Corps, and all the other concerns that had touched their lives. They were now one, both in mind and body. The walls between them melted away and were replaced only with a glorious feeling of love and togetherness. Neither was sure where the other's body ended and their's began, and they didn't really want to spend too long trying to find out. For this brief moment in time there was nothing else but each other, and their love... nothing else mattered.

THE END

* * *


End file.
